Loss of Me
by NotxFadexAway
Summary: x.x "Kurosaki, Ichigo’s human body will be retrieved tomorrow at noon for elimination." -- IchigoXRukia
1. Everything is Nothing

_**Author's Note: **__If any names are spelled wrong, I apologize! I actually had no intention of writing a Bleach fic, but after reading so many brilliant ones, I was inspired to write this. If anyone is out of character, it is only because of the situations, emotions, etc. And no! This is NOT going to be an IchigoXShinji fic. Shinji, however,__** will**__be included a lot in this fic primarily because he is my favorite Bleach character, but also because the vizards will be with Ichigo throughout most of this fic. : - P. In case you were wondering, this will end up being a RukiaXIchigo fic, sorry OrihimeXIchigo fans! Oh! And one last thing: Please review!_

**Chapter One: **_Everything is Nothing_

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* * *

  
_

Ichigo stood at the bottom of the staircase of the vast training room and his fingers shook violently against Zangetsu. His zanpakuto was drenched in blood, as were his shinigami robes. The feeling of despair ebbed at the core of his soul and he nearly collapsed under the weight of it. He locked eyes with the group of vizards before him and said a silent apology.

Shinji stepped forward, taking in the ghastly appearance of the young shinigami, and smiled grimly, "I always knew somethin' like this would happen." He turned back towards the other vizards and lifted his hand into the air in a dismissive manner, "Pack your bags, we'll leave before dawn."

With that, the vizards dispersed, making their individual preparations. The only two left were Shinji and Ichigo. Shinji gingerly made his way over to Ichigo and took the boy's zanpakuto from his grasp. Ichigo met his gaze and immediately looked away, feeling exceedingly remorseful.

"You want to tell me why we're leavin?" Shinji asked quietly, but loud enough for Ichigo to hear.

Ichigo met Shinji's gaze again and nodded once, "There was a vasto lorde in soul society a few hours ago. It was one of the ones from the new army," they locked eyes for a moment, fear passing between them. After Aizen had been defeated, a new entity had arisen in Hueco Muendo that was even stronger than the former captain. The identity of the new threat was completely unknown, as were the facts about the entity's army, which made things extremely dangerous.

The only theory that anyone had had about the new threat was that it had somehow fused the hyougyoku with something even stronger and was creating hollows with ridiculous amounts of reitsu. All in all, if their newest enemy decided to attack any time soon, soul society and Karakura town wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

Ichigo paused a bit and his expression became bitter, "As you already know, I happened to be in soul society for my meeting with Yammato at that time."

Shinji nodded. He was well informed about the issues surrounding Ichigo's meeting with Yammato. During the war, Ichigo had transformed into his full stage as a vizard and hadn't been able to consciously control the form while battling the fourth espada. Not that it surprised Shinji. Ichigo had gone into Hueco Muendo while barely knowing how to control his first stage as a vizard. He hadn't even learned techniques such as cero or bala. After the war, however, Ichigo's hollow had started to cause trouble in full force once again because Ichigo had technically died twice whilst in Hueco Muendo. Shirosaki, as Ichigo called him, was taking dibs on power, claiming that since Ichigo had died twice, he should be the horse and Shirosaki the King.

As a result, Ichigo was short-tempered and snappy with almost everyone and had held a public battle with Byakuya Kuchiki only because he couldn't stop his hollow from doing so. After such events, Ichigo had eventually wandered back to the vizards who once again helped Ichigo to beat Shirosaki into submission. Although he had the problem under control, Yammato wanted to speak with him about it anyway, as to make sure it wouldn't be a future threat to soul society.

"We had only just started talking about my hollow when I felt it," Ichigo spoke again, snapping Shinji out of his reverie, "It was this intense reitsu, Shinji, but only _I_ could sense it. Yammato hadn't even flinched, he just kept on lecturing me."

"I departed from the first division, with Yammato shouting behind me, and tracked the reitsu to the thirteenth division, where Ukitake-taichou was being attacked by one of the new espada. Ukitake wasn't fairing well against the espada," worry flashed across Shinji's eyes at that statement. If someone as powerful as Jushiro Ukitake couldn't take on an espada, then the next war –whenever it would be—might turn out in favor of the enemy.

"So, I put on my mask and attacked the espada,' Ichigo continued, his voice growing more and more unsteady, "I thought I was keeping on par with the bastard, I even managed to cut him a few times, but then he completely vanished, reitsu and all. Or so I thought. He reappeared behind Ukitake and almost cut him completely in half," Ichigo stopped and Shinji could almost guess where the rest of the story was going.

"I attacked the espada again but he left, for good. That was when 90% of soul society decided to finally show up, and naturally all they saw was me with a bloody zanpakuto and my hollow mask and Ukitake, their beloved captain, cut almost completely in half at my feet. I tried to explain what happened…." He trailed off and Shinji uncrossed his arms from his chest. The ending was pretty clear. Soul society probably issued an alert stating that Ichigo and the vizards were a threat and to eliminate them immediately.

Shinji placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder, "Eh, don't worry about it. We've had about a hundred years to prepare for an event like this. Listen, Ichigo, go say your goodbyes to Isshin and the girls, and whoever else, and meet us back here at 4 am. But be careful, once you leave this basement, I can't guarantee your safety. It is likely that soul society will at least spend a full day organizing a team to hunt us, so you should be safe, but be on guard."

Ichigo nodded and then paused, looking back at Shinji, "How long will we be gone?"

Shinji was silent for a moment before a grave expression passed over his face, "Go say goodbye to your family, Kurosaki."

* * *

Ichigo departed the basement, Shinji's words still lingering in his mind. It was clear that he would probably not see his family for at least a few years, if not ever again. He became extremely depressed at this thought. He had only just discovered during the war that his father was an ex-shinigami and they had started to really bond over a few things, and now Ichigo had to leave. Probably permanently.

Ichigo stood in front of his house and saw that the lights in the kitchen were on, which was unusual, considering it was already one in the morning. He figured that his dad must have been notified as to what had happened.

Ichigo held zangetsu out in front of him as he cautiously entered the house. He moved quietly towards the kitchen to see that his father, Urahara, Yoruichi, and Ryukken were all settled around the table and staring in his direction, obviously waiting for him.

Ichigo approached them cautiously before blurting out, "I didn't kill him!"

Isshin sighed heavily and was about to open his mouth, but Urahara beat him, "Ah! Kurosaki-kun we never suspected that you did!"

There were collective sounds of agreement all around the table before Yoruichi abruptly stood and walked towards him, "You'll be somewhat relieved to know that Ukitake-taichou is still alive. Unfortunately, he's in a coma in the fourth division and it is unlikely that he will wake up any time soon."

Ichigo sighed with relief. His heart felt somewhat lighter now that he knew that Ukitake was alive. Not that it would change soul society's decision, however, because Ukitake would not be awake any time soon to clear Ichigo's name.

Ichigo had seen the damage done to the frail captain with his own eyes. He highly doubted that Ukitake would wake up within the next year even with Unohana's healing capabilities.

"Ichigo," his father interrupted his thoughts and Ichigo's gaze drifted over to his old man' father looked even more depressed than Ichigo felt.

"I know this means that you'll be leaving soon. Which is why we all gathered here to discuss some last minute preparations." Isshin glared at Urahara with such a ferocity that Urahara flinched and physically removed himself from Isshin's presence.

Ichigo's heart sank at the actions by both men and fear suddenly gripped him, "What's going on?"

No one responded. Ichigo stared down each one of them and they all avoided his gaze.

"Dad?!? What's going on? What _preparations_ are you talking about?" Ichigo shouted angrily at the man.

Isshin's gaze rose to meet his son's and he sighed deeply. He pushed a folded note towards Ichigo who grabbed it swiftly and opened it.

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_An issue of the commander of the Gotei 13:_

_Kurosaki, Ichigo and all remaining vizards are to be captured on sight and prepared for execution within the grounds of soul society. Those who do not comply with these orders shall be arrested immediately._

_Also, to the Kurosaki household:_

_**Kurosaki, Ichigo's human body will be retrieved tomorrow at noon for elimination.**_

__------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_**  
**_

Ichigo looked up from the letter, his eyes flashing wildly, "Elimination!?! What is that supposed to mean?"

It was Ryukken who answered this time, "Exactly as it sounds. They are going to kill your human body so that you cannot return to it."

Ichigo turned on his father, pointing a finger in his face, "But they can't! My human body has nothing to do with this!"

Isshin looked up at his son, sadly, "They can, Ichigo, and they will, unless we do something first."

"The question is, would you rather be killed by soul society's zanpakuto, or one of ours?" Urahara questioned Ichigo, who looked stricken.

Isshin shot Urahara another furious glare, but did not deny the statement. Ichigo whirled around and studied everyone in the room, trying to see if any of them had an unspoken alternative. When he was greeted with sympathetic stares, Ichigo's eyes shot towards the ground.

He heard the sound of a chair scraping against wood and then felt arms around him as his father embraced him, "I'm sorry Ichigo. I wish there was another way, but there isn't."

Ichigo pulled away from his father and nodded briefly, "It's okay, I understand." He met his father's gaze and then looked around at the others, "I would rather one of you do it. At least that way I can maintain some shred of dignity."

Pity flashed through Isshin's eyes and Ichigo looked away. He didn't have time for pity.

* * *

Ichigo stood in the entrance way of his house and looked back at the four adults in front of him. He glanced briefly at his watched and noted sadly that it was 3:45 am. He only had 15 minutes left before he and the other vizards departed for good. Ichigo twisted a silver ring around on his finger and nodded at Urahara, appreciatively. The ring was meant to block off all of his reitsu. The only time Ichigo would be allowed to take it off is if there was a serious attack, otherwise he was to be completely powerless at all times. Urahara told him that the other vizards already had rings such as his, and it only enforced what Shinji had said earlier about having prepared for a century for this type of event.

The group had helped Ichigo with his preparations, and his body had been killed in a 'car accident' set up by Isshin and Urahara. Kon had been bitter about losing Ichigo's body as a 'babe magnet' but he had grudgingly accepted the event considering that Ichigo was leaving and he felt he had to be somewhat sentimental about it. Ryukken and Isshin were going to explain everything to his friends, and Ichigo had packed the essentials in his book bag. He was pretty much all set to go.

Isshin stepped forward and hugged his son once more, "Here's to hoping that we'll meet again," they both nodded at each other and Isshin spoke again, "I love you son."

Ichigo's eyes started to fill with moisture at the choked sob that escaped his father's throat, "Love you too dad."

Yoruichi stepped forward and slapped Ichigo lightly on the back before beaming at him, "Hey Ichigo! Come back to us, alright?"

Ichigo nodded at her and turned towards Ryukken who only shook his hand in departure.

Urahara waved his fan in Ichigo's direction, "Good luck Kurosaki-kun! Don't let those vizards hassle you too much!"

Ichigo grunted in response and opened the front door to his house. He turned back rapidly though, after realizing he almost forgot something important.

He swung his backpack around to the front of him and unzipped the front pocket. He produced a white envelope that was unmarked, and handed it to Isshin.

"Hey dad, could you give this to Rukia for me? It's important," Isshin nodded furiously at him and Ichigo smiled. He gave one last wave to his 'family' and walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

Isshin stared in disbelief at the closed door in front of him.

Ichigo Kurosaki was _gone._


	2. Voyage

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the reviews guys! I am actually a bit annoyed that I managed to spell Yama-jii's name wrong, but I think it's because I've spent too much time referring to him as Yama-jii, haha. Also, I'm not as annoyed about spelling Ryuken's name wrong because he hasn't even been around -_-._

**Nekura Enzeru: ** _those are some really excellent points. The idea I had was to set up information about the new enemy and Aizen's downfall through short spurts of flashbacks in between the present situation. Thanks for the review! : - )._

**BleachFan101: **_Thank you! I will try and update as frequently as possible!_

**MrsKurosaki x: **_It is kind of tragic, isn't it? Haha, I'll try and add in some vizard-related humor, but there will be a lot of emo!Ichigo moments in this fic. But let's be serious, we all love that, right?_

**Slashvenom: **_Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the fic!_

**Onewhoistoolazytologin: **_haha I feel your pain, logging in is stupid. Thanks though! Glad you're enjoying the ficcy!_

_Also, I was mildly afraid that some elements of this plot sounded too similar to Diamond Dust Rebellion (with Kusaka's zanpakuto taking Kyoraku out for a bit and Hitsugaya being accused in the whole incident), but then I decided that A) I didn't care, haha. And B) Ukitake isn't going to wake up for a long time (the man was pretty much cut in half)._

**Chapter Two:** _Voyage_

"_I wonder if we are all travelers with wounds that can't be healed.."_

_

* * *

_

To say that soul society was in an uproar was an understatement. Shinigami from various squads were running back and forth from the fourth division, to the thirteenth, and finally to the first division. Kiyone and Sentaro had been glued to their captain's bedside ever since the news of his injury. For once, they had managed to set aside all arguments in order to be there for their even frailer-looking captain. Kyoraku had also spent long hours in the fourth division, trying to offer some sort of support for his best friend.

Kiyone had been ordered, in all surprise, to remain by her captain after Yamamoto caught her publicly declaring war against Ichigo Kurosaki in the middle of sereiti. Kyoraku was a little surprised when he had seen Ichigo standing over his best friend with a bloodied zanpakuto. He didn't know what to make of the situation. It was certain that Ichigo had been a lot moodier lately, but Kyoraku found it hard to believe that he would purposely hurt someone to this extent. Especially someone that Ichigo had stated on many different occasions that he respected deeply.

Outside of the first division, however, things were much more tense. A line had formed out of the divison's headquarters, with people attempting to file complaints against Yamamoto's most recent orders. Many of the Shinigami in soul society did not believe that Ichigo was guilty of the crime he was being accused of.

Among those in line were Rukia Kuchiki, whose face had been twisted in a permanent scowl of anger ever since receiving the recent orders from the captain-commander. Also Renji, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Kenpachi, Yachiru, Madarame, Yumichika, and Byakuya were in line behind her. None of them believed that the attack had been Ichigo's fault and were attempting to fight their orders.

Rukia's heart was beating wildly as she turned to the group behind her. Their expressions matched her own. Rukia _knew_ that Ichigo would never intentionally harm her captain. There had to have been some other explanation as to how Ukitake's injury came about. She was more than willing to give Ichigo the benefit of the doubt, if she only knew how to contact him without being arrested or killed.

She vaguely wondered where he was now. It was obvious that he couldn't stay in Karakura town. Soul society would arrest and kill him almost immediately if he had done that. She assumed that he must have gone off with the vizards, it was the only rational theory she had.

Rukia unfolded the note containing her most recent orders and read over it again. She could not fathom that Yamamoto was going as far as to destroy Ichigo's human body. She wasn't even certain how that fit in the equation. The entire situation was completely unreasonable and she only prayed for Ichigo's safety.

After the war with Aizen, the two – if possible – had become even closer. This was mostly because Ichigo was ordered to remain in the soul society for a few weeks until he was completely healed of his extensive injuries. Rukia had visited him almost every day while he was still here.

* * *

"_Ichigo, you're looking a lot better," Rukia commented as she placed a mug of warm green tea in front of Ichigo. She wasn't even certain how Ichigo had managed to pull of killing Aizen. He had told her that it was a combination of things. His full form as a vizard, his determination to protect those he loved, and the idea to use Aizen's power against him._

_It was true. Rukia had seen it for herself. Aizen was about to unleash the hyougyoku's full power on the remaining captains (who were still able to stand) when Ichigo's blade collided with Aizen's zanpakuto. Aizen's zanpakuto had cracked and shot out a glowing light that had made a mirror-image of the remaining captains of soul society. _

_Aizen attempted to stop the event from occurring, but he had already unleashed hyougyoku's power. Instead, Aizen was forced to watch as the mass explosion rebounded from his zanpakuto's power and hit himself, Gin, and Tousen full-on. All that had been left of the three ex-captains was a pile of smoldering bones._

_The hyougyoku had shattered after the explosion, leaving tiny fragments in Hueco Muendo. No one had thought anything of the fragments at the time, instead returning to soul society to heal the injured. During that time, even the vizards were accepted in soul society to receive treatment for their wounds. Everything was peaceful. Even now, only a month later, things were peaceful.  
_

"_Thanks," Ichigo murmured, breaking Rukia from her reverie. She watched as he accepted the mug and took a long drink from it. The color was returning to Ichigo's cheeks and he was once again up and mobile. _

_Rukia felt a little bittersweet with that knowledge. She knew that Ichigo would be leaving soon, and it pulled at her heart. She enjoyed spending time with him. Even Byakuya could see that and had stopped his bitter remarks towards Ichigo while Rukia was around.  
_

"_So I guess you'll be leaving soon," Rukia commented, meeting Ichigo's gaze briefly. He had no idea how much she wanted him to stay.  
_

"_Yeah, my old man said I'm almost at 100%. I still can't believe he's a freakin' shinigami," Ichigo shook his head in disbelief and Rukia smiled._

_When Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, and the vizards had shown up to aid in the battle, Ichigo had been overwhelmed at the sight of his father in shinigami robes. Rukia was admittedly a bit overwhelmed herself. She had no idea that Ichigo's crazy lunatic of a father was a shinigami. She was even more shocked at the serious expression on Isshin's face. She didn't think she had ever seen that man without a goofy smile on his face._

_Rukia remembered that Ichigo had started screaming wildly at Isshin about not telling him anything. Isshin had started to argue back before Yama-jii had slammed his staff on the ground, proclaiming that this wasn't the time for bickering. Both men had grudgingly agreed, with Ichigo issuing a silent threat that if Isshin didn't explain later he would witness something more terrifying than Aizen._

_Now, however, Ichigo had accepted his father's admission. Isshin had explained to him that the reason he hadn't told him was because he was initially trying to protect him from the lifestyle of a shinigami. Later, he still hadn't told Ichigo because he was afraid of not only Ichigo's reaction, but of what would happen if soul society found out that he was still alive. It normally was against the rules for a shinigami to get married and have children with someone from the living world.  
_

"_I can, actually. It makes a lot of sense now," Ichigo shot her a questioning look, and Rukia clarified, "It explains how you have so much power, and how techniques like bankai come so easily to you."_

_Ichigo nodded slightly, "I guess that does make sense." He mused on it for a while and then shot Rukia a startling grin, "Hey Rukia, I guess this means we can have peace for a while."_

* * *

Peace. That wasn't how Rukia would describe this now. No. This was utter chaos. How could Yamamoto possibly issue an order to kill the man that had saved all of their lives? It wasn't comprehendible. Rukia was about to go on a rant to Renji when a door slammed open up ahead, silencing the small crowd.

Yamamoto himself stepped out in front of the crowd and slammed his cane on the ground. Rukia didn't even have to wait to hear what he was going to say. She already knew. Turning abruptly, Rukia walked away from the crowd, not even bothering to respond to the numerous shouts of her name coming from her support group.

If she wanted Ichigo's safety, it was clear she would have to ensure it herself.

* * *

Isshin poured tea for the large group situated in the living room of his house. Chad, Inoue, Tatsuki, Uryuu, Urahara, Tessai, Yoruichi, Yuzu, and Karin were all there, silently mourning the loss of their friend and brother. Uryuu clutched Inoue's hand as she sobbed into his neck.

The girl could not be consoled. Although Ishida knew she no longer held feelings for Kurosaki, he knew that she was crying for different reasons. Ichigo had done so much for all of them. For soul society to issue this kind of order, was inexplicable.

"And that's the story. Ichigo is technically still alive. We just have to ensure his safety to the vizards," Isshin announced while seating himself in between Urahara and Chad.

"It's absurd," Ishida snapped angrily and Inoue looked up at him momentarily, in alarm. Uryuu gave her a silent apology before continuing, "Is there any way we can contact him, at least?"

Isshin shook his head, "No…we're completely cut off from Ichigo and the vizards. It's better this way, Ishida. If any of you knew where he was, soul society might…" he trailed off and Ishida hung his head. He knew what Isshin was getting at. They would most likely be arrested and tortured for information.

"The only thing we can do now is remain strong and prepare for whatever lies ahead. It is most likely that soul society will pressure all of us at some point. Keep your heads together, don't lose it in front of them. If they see that any of us are weak, they might take it as a sign that we know something."

"But you don't?" a voice broke through from the entrance way into the room. Everyone turned to see Rukia Kuchiki standing with her arms crossed over her chest, a questioning look on her face.

"RUKIA!" Orhime cried and bolted from Uryuu's arms. She hugged Rukia fiercely, who hugged her back somewhat half-heartedly. After they broke apart Rukia sat herself next to Isshin at the table.

"I don't have any more information than you do, Isshin. They are assembling a team, but I'm not certain who's on it. Most likely Kyoraku will lead the team, since he is one of the strongest, and Ukitake-taichou's best friend. However, beyond that I can't give you a clear idea on who will be arriving tomorrow," she paused at Isshin's nod of confirmation before continuing, "I assume you've disposed of Ichigo's body?" Everyone, including Rukia herself, cringed at her words.

Isshin sighed, "Car-accident. Rukia…how did you get here?"

Urahara waved his fan in response and Isshin stared at him questioningly.

"She came in through my basement, she used the senkai gate in the Kuchiki manor."

Rukia nodded in response to the blonde's statement, "I've possibly endangered myself by coming here. But I had to," she trailed off and for a moment everyone was silent.

"Oh Rukia, that reminds me. Ichigo left you something, it's on his bed," Isshin stated and watched as Rukia's eyes momentarily lit up.

Rukia thanked Isshin and darted upstairs towards Ichigo's bedroom. As soon as she opened the door, an orange blur flew towards her.

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!" Kon screeched as he flew at his beloved sister.

Rukia's right hand darted out and smacked Kon into the closet, where it closed behind him with the force of the impact.

She gingerly made her way over to Ichigo's bed and sat on the edge of it. She could still feel his reiatsu all over his room. Her hands clutched the white envelope and she opened it carefully. Two things spilled out. One was a letter. The other was a piece of the red cord that held his sword on his back, only it was fashioned into a bracelet.

Rukia opened the letter first.

* * *

_Rukia,_

_As you know by now, I'm being hunted. Hunted for a crime that I did not commit. Ukitake's injury was caused by a vasto lorde, whose reiatsu could only be sensed by those who have reiatsu similar to a hollow's. Yama-jii couldn't sense the vasto lorde, which is probably why – combined with my recent demeanor – he assumed I had attacked Ukitake._

_I needed you to know the truth. Nothing else matters now that you know. Though, as much as I hate admitting it to myself, I may never see you again. I hope this isn't the case. If it is, at least I live more freely knowing that your view of me hasn't changed._

_I don't think that I've thanked you enough for everything. There are a lot of things that I didn't know about myself, a lot of uncertainties, that I couldn't have possibly overcome without you. Even when others looked at me fearfully, you never once did. You never judged me or the beast that rests within my soul. For this, we both thank you._

_As much as I can't imagine a world without you – a life without you – I don't know when I will see you again. Things are extremely uncertain now. After everything we survived, I thought the worst had already happened. That was until now._

_I don't know if you feel the same way, but there is something that I have to tell you._

_I love you, Rukia Kuchiki. I think part of me has loved you since the first time I kicked you off my desktop. You are an impossibly stubborn woman. Your attitude is obnoxious at times, and your drawings suck. And I love you for all of this._

_You, above anyone else, are the person I regret leaving the most._

_-Ichigo_

* * *

Tears streamed down Rukia's face as she closed the note and placed it inside of her shinigami robes.

"I love you too, idiot," Rukia whispered to the empty room, wondering where Ichigo was now.

* * *

What felt like forever later, Ichigo loaded his luggage into a taxi and followed Shinji into the vehicle.

"New York City, seriously?" Ichigo questioned for about the 100th time since they landed in the busy city.

"Why not, New York City, Ichigo?" Shinji shot back as the driver took off towards the town house that the vizards had apparently purchased years ago.

"I don't know, it just seems so _far_," Ichigo emphasized, worry plastered all over his face.

"That's the idea," Shinji replied staring out the window at the barely-moving traffic, "Plus it's crowded, and in America people tend to go a bit crazy with their hairstyles, so none of us will be noticed…except maybe Mashiro but she has an appointment to get her hair dyed tomorrow."

Ichigo couldn't argue with that. It was actually kind of exciting to be in New York City. He just wished he could experience it with his friends and family. And Rukia.

He sighed, wondering if Rukia had received his letter yet. He hoped that she wasn't in any danger because of him. That would be an even worse possible situation.

Ichigo stared out of the other window of the cab in awe at the passing city before muttering, "New York City, meet the vizards."


	3. Over the Edge

**Author's Note: **_Hey guys, as requested, I tried to make this chapter a little bit longer. It's only about double the length of the previous chapters, but when a girl is trying to study for an economics test in between writing something totally distracting…it can be hard haha. So my apologies, once more, for any and all errors you see in the text. I spent about two-three hours on this little piece. Enjoy!_

**Nekura Enzeru:** Thanks! Man you have no idea how much I just want to keep writing and writing and writing. Unfortunately I am taking some summer courses to help alleviate my stress for next year, so I can only write so much : - /. After the test is over this week, I should have some more time to attempt longer chapters.

**darkheart1992:** Haha, yeah this fic is really just full of depressing situations. But I'd rather have that than a fic fully of consistent happiness, haha. Thanks for the review!  
**  
AnimeMaster24:** Yeah I tried to address the Yamamoto issue in the beginning of the second chapter. I have been calling him Yama-jii way too frequently (even going as far as to call him that out loud to friends and what not). Yes, it was an easily fixable situation, but I got too excited to post the story and as a result, I didn't really check for errors. I'm getting better though, I promise.

**realityfling18:** Hey thanks! I am attempting to put forth some more description as to _why_ these certain characters are on Ichigo's side (as seen by the last part of this chapter for Toshiro, and hints in the middle of the chapter for Byakuya) so that it doesn't just seem like a random slew of characters were thrown together for the Ichigo-cause. The whole NYC as a location thing wasn't really thought out as much as other elements of the plot, which doesn't bother me too much because the location of the vizards throughout this fic is not going to take away from the essential plots that the vizards will be experiencing. NYC is sort of just background noise in the fic, if you know what I mean.

**Chapter Three: **_Over the Edge_

_///  
_

"_Don't trip. Don't stress. My life seems to be heading over the edge."_

_

* * *

  
_

"DAMN IT SHINJI!!!! HELP ME WITH MY BAGS!" Hiyori screamed as she toppled onto the curb under the weight.

Shinji debated following the command for a few seconds before deciding that it was probably best to just help her. He wasn't in the mood to get beaten up. Also, it wasn't _his_ fault that she decided to bring so many bags. What did she think this was? A vacation? He strode casually over to the pile of bags where he could just make out one of Hiyori's blonde pig tails surfacing above the luggage.

Along with his own, Shinji grabbed two of Hiyori's bags and helped her up from the ground. She was snarling in his direction, but he ignored it. He didn't feel like dealing with the ferocious beast today. Beside him, everyone else was waiting patiently for Hiyori to rearrange herself. Well mostly everyone was waiting patiently. Mashiro was bouncing up and down whining at Kensei to let them go inside.

"Shut the hell up, Mashiro! Look. We can go in now. Happy?" Kensei's teeth were grinding against each other as the green-haired brat jumped on his shoulders – whacking Kensei in the head with one of her bags in the process- and demanded that he lead them into the house. Kensei was about to throw her across the street when he realized that the cab hadn't exactly pulled away yet. Simmering silently, he slowly walked up the stairs leading into the townhouse.

"Hey Love, toss me the key," He requested over his shoulder. Love threw the set of keys at Kensei who caught them with ease and opened the door. Walking inside, he abruptly dropped Mashiro onto the nearest couch and practically ran for the bathroom. 14 or so hours of Mashiro not letting him get past to the bathroom on the plane had practically killed his bladder.

As the rest of the vizards made their way into the house, Love pulled out a construction map. "Right, there are four bedrooms downstairs. There are two on the main floor, and three upstairs."

Lisa looked at the map over Love's shoulder, "Alright then the three girls will take the upstairs bedrooms, and the rest can be divided amongst you guys. I'm going with Kensei to the grocery store as soon as he gets out of the bathroom."

Ichigo and Shinji were busy scoping out the two bedrooms on the current level. Simultaneously they both shouted that they would take the bed rooms situated here. With Ichigo wanting the room because it had its own bathroom, and Shinji wanting the other room because it was the closest to the kitchen, which meant late night snacks. No one disagreed with the two, either.

Hachi looked in the fridge and sighed deeply, "Lisa, are you leaving soon?"

Lisa turned and raised an eyebrow, "Why don't you just order everyone some take-out while you're waiting?"

Hachi grumbled and started rooting through the yellow book for the number for Chinese take out. After getting everyone's orders, he used broken English to place the rather large order.

Shinji walked over to the couch and flopped down on it before turning on the TV. Ichigo and Hiyori followed suit while Mashiro decided to be helpful for once and place everyone's bags in their respective rooms. If Kensei hadn't been at the grocery store, he probably would have died of shock from the action.

"Shinji, what are the plans from here on out?" Ichigo inquired, breaking the somewhat relaxed atmosphere in the house.

"Geez, what a mood killer," Shinji replied with a grin, "The plan is to stay here for as long as we are capable, and to train. Some of the vizards suck at Kido, and you can't even use it yet. Plus you still need to master all aspects of being a vizard."

"How the hell are we supposed to train here?" Ichigo shouted at the blonde.

"Idiot. We have a training room underneath this house," Hiyori replied and glared at Ichigo pointedly.

"How? Why did you guys plan this out so thoroughly years in advance?" Ichigo inquired, a bewildered look on his face.

"There was an incident a long time ago," Shinji spoke quietly and Hiyori bowed her head in shame, "A soul was accidentally hurt because one of us…"

"It was me," Hiyori cut him off and took over for the story, "It was back when we were all in your position. Having our battles with our inner hollows. As you know, it took me the longest to defeat my hollow, and even after that, it was hard for me to control it. I was out taking a walk, and stumbled upon a soul that hadn't received the soul burial yet. The smell of the reiatsu caused something inside me to snap. I couldn't control my instincts and I lashed out and injured that soul. A shinigami had shown up at that time and had seen my actions. Unfortunately, it was a shinigami from my previous squad, so I knew him. He had intervened and performed the soul burial and I had run off," Hiyori's eyes glazed over momentarily from the memory.

"I was scared. We all were. We discussed what to do for a long time and eventually took a week off to purchase this place and build the training room underneath. It was then that Urahara called and informed us that the shinigami who discovered me was killed by a hollow while on duty. The shinigami had never made it back to soul society and couldn't tell them what he had seen. We were somehow saved," Hiyori finished with a sigh.

"Until now," Ichigo breathed, "I'm sorry I involved all of you in this. I shouldn't have…"

"Idiot! Shut up! Don't apologize. We're all in this together. Like a family," Hiyori snickered slightly, "Though this is one messed up family."

"Agreed," Shinji said with a grin from her right.

Ichigo smiled slightly at that and then the smile slowly faded as he thought of his own family. He had wondered how Yuzu and Karin took the news of his departure. His father had advised him to let them sleep the night he had left. He had said it probably would have been too hard for both Ichigo and the girls if he had had to say goodbye to them that night. Although Ichigo wished he had said goodbye to them, he knew his dad was right. He didn't think he'd have been able to walk out the door if he had had to say goodbye to both them and Rukia.

Shinji noticed the frown on Ichigo's face and was about to comment when the door bell suddenly rang. Springing from the couch, Shinji made his way over to the front door with a wad of American dollars in his hand. Ichigo remembered Shinji explaining that the vizards had saved money from their paychecks back in soul society and were extremely thrifty with it in order to save up a large sum of money for an occasion such as this.

He watched as Shinji paid the delivery man for their food and brought the bag into the kitchen, placing it onto the counter. One by one all of the vizards either sat at the counter or the kitchen table and received their respective orders from Shinji. Ichigo's stomach growled as he opened the container of food that was placed before him. Just as he placed a fork full of combination fried rice, Kensei and Lisa entered through the front door, multiple bags of groceries in their hands.

"Oi, we have soda somewhere in here too!" Lisa stated as she dug in between the bags that Kensei and herself had dumped onto the other side of the counter. Seconds later she produced a case of coke and ripped the cardboard top off. Then she and Kensei proceeded to pack all of the groceries into the fridge before settling down to eat.

"Eat well, Ichigo, after dinner we start kido training," Rose announced from Ichigo's left.

Mashiro nodded her head wildly in confirmation, "Berry-chan will learn all of the finer aspects of kido," she dangeled a piece of general tso's chicken above her mouth and completely missed. Ichigo watched as it dropped down the front of her white jumpsuit, causing a streak of brown sauce to appear. Mashiro cried out in despair and claimed that the jumpsuit was no longer wearable.

"Thank God," Kensei muttered quietly, though Ichigo could still hear, "That's not even an appropriate outfit to wear out in public."

Mulling over what Mashiro just said, Kensei suddenly got an enraged look on his face, "And Mashiro, you SUCK at Kido. Don't go lecturing others about the 'finer aspects of kido' when you can barely shoot a red canon in the right direction!" A pair of chopsticks flew at Kensei's face after the outburst, and Kensei lit up like a tomato.

"Easy, Easy, everyone just calm down," Rose pleaded from Ichigo's left, "And Kensei you aren't exactly a master of kido, yourself," he added.

Kensei glared at Rose and the man immediately regretted what he had said, "I'm aware of that, Rose, but at least _I'm_ willing to admit it!"

Ichigo sighed and procured another forkful of his meal. Just as he was lifting the food to his mouth, a sharp pain in his elbow caused him to drop it back into the container. He quickly massaged the sore area, cursing under his breath. Now he knew why all of his shinigami friends hated gigais so much. They could be extremely uncomfortable at times.

"Meh I'm done eating," Ichigo announced as he rose from the table and put his leftovers in the fridge.

He turned back to others with a small smile on his face, "So…who's ready for training?"

* * *

Rukia sat in a chair, facing forward, and felt fear run through her veins. She couldn't see what was behind her but she sensed the presence of at least four others blocking off the only two exits in the room. Before her, the captain-commander was _furious_. Rukia kept drifting between the emotions of fear and anger, this time settling on anger. What gave Yamamoto the right to be angry with her? If anything, _she_ had more of a right to be angry with him.

"I refuse to answer," she responded for the tenth time in the past half hour. Yamamoto had repeatedly asked her to reveal the details surrounding her trip to the real world, even though she warned him that she wouldn't respond, even if it meant sitting across from him for the next year.

"You realize that your actions will have severe consequences, Miss Kuchiki?" Yamamoto prompted angrily.

"It can't be any worse than being sentenced to _die_," Rukia retorted just as angrily.

"I _am_ right about that decision, Miss Kuchiki," Yamamoto said with a biting tone.

"Just like you were right about sentencing me to death all of three years ago? If I remember correctly, if it weren't for Ichigo I would be dead right now," she said icily.

"That is enough!" Yamamoto's reiatsu flared and noticeably choked Rukia. Her eyes widened in fear and she felt as if she was about to pass out before the 8th division captain walked into the room, causing Yamamoto to cease in his attack.

"Yama-jii, what's going on in here?" Kyoraku asked while looking over at the visibly shaken Rukia Kuchiki.

"None of your business," Yamamoto replied swiftly, "What is your report from the real world?"

Kyoraku sighed and adjusted his hat before looking back at the old man, "Kurosaki, Ichigo's body was already destroyed when we arrived. Also, as suspected, the boy has disappeared."

Yamamoto took in the information, "We will dispatch the team to permanently reside in Karakura now. I want everyone to be on the look out for Kurosaki, Ichigo," he paused before eying Rukia, "Kuchiki _leave_."

Rukia stood on shaky legs and passed the 8th division captain without acknowledgement. She was furious with him for siding with Yamamoto. Of all people, she thought Kyoraku at least would have helped them out.

As she exited the division, she was greeted by Byakuya. They walked together for a short period in silence before Byakuya spoke, "They sealed the senkai gate at the manor. If we decide to venture into the real world again, we will have to find connections, _elsewhere._"

"Nii-sama," Rukia breathed staring up at her brother in awe. Byakuya had basically stated, in so many words or less, that he was committed to helping her and Ichigo.

As they walked towards the sixth division, Renji came out to greet them with Kenpachi, Yumichika, Madarame, and Yachiru behind him. Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the sight before greeting the quartet.

"Taichou, Kenpachi-taichou wants to help us as well." Renji stated while placing himself next to Rukia.

Byakuya nodded slightly, "We can't take any dramatic actions yet, though I know you are inclined to, Zaraki. This is a process that may have to proceed at an exceedingly slow pace. At least until Yamamoto has calmed down enough to not monitor every aspect of every shinigami in sereiti."

"True enough. The old man has been nothing but a kill-joy lately," muttered Kenpachi, "Ichigo better appreciate us trying to save him. The minute we get that scrawny bastard back I'm going to kill him!"

Everyone looked at the wild captain in disdain, "Taichou, isn't the point to save Ichigo and not kill him? Killing someone after being saved would not be a beautiful event at all," Yumichika sighed deeply.

"Of course it would be a beautiful event," a low voice broke through the conversation. Everyone turned to see Mayuri coming around the corner and standing in front of them.

"Kurosaki must die. Not only is it an order, but it is a promise. Besides, I don't understand why everyone thinks the boy is special…he's nothing but trash."

Mayuri let out a startled yelp as Rukia landed a swift punch to the captain's nose. He stumbled backwards and held the now-bleeding appendage as he glared up at the younger Kuchiki.

"Why you little bit—"

"Enough!" Yamamoto came into their presence and glared at all seven people, "I don't care who started it. As of now consider the sixth, eleventh, tenth, and thirteenth divisions on suspension of their duties. None of you are to leave soul society under any conditions. Now return to your respective decisions."

"Sou-taichou," Byakuya started.

"Dismissed," Yamamoto said with a glare at the eldest Kuchiki before he and Mayuri departed.

Byakuya looked as if he was ready to unleash senbonzakura at any moment. Rukia placed a hand on her brother's arm, calming him temporarily.

"There's no point in fighting that bastard. He's set in his ways," Rukia hissed before looking around at the group.

"The only way we can keep in contact is through hell butterflies at this point. Nii-sama and I will work out a way to reenter the real world and inform all of you as to what to do when that time comes."

Rukia turned towards Renji, "Renji, can you send a hell butterfly to Hitsugaya-taichou informing him of the same information?" At his nod Rukia turned towards the path leading to her division, "We should go before Yamamoto decides to return and see if we actually _have_ left."

With that, Rukia walked away.

* * *

Kisuke Urahara stood just outside the small shack that was his home and waited in anticipation. The air buzzed slightly and a small black butterfly appeared instantaneously. Urahara immediately caught the flying creature in a tupaware container and disappeared into the darkness of his house. The previous action would solve two problems. One, the shinigami stationed about three buildings over would never receive his instructions to extract information from Isshin Kurosaki – using force if necessary – and two, it provided Urahara with what he needed for his new experiment.

Returning to his room, Urahara turned on the light and set the hell butterfly down at his workstation. He then unfolded a poster and flattened it along the table. It was a rough diagram at best, but it had everything necessary for completing his project. He hoped to finish it by the end of the week, at the very least.

* * *

Yorucihi, in cat form, watched from her perch on the windowsill as Kisuke returned to his study with a hell butterfly. She had no idea what the scientist was attempting to work on next, but whatever it was, she was certain it would be ingenious, as most of his experiments were. Hopping down from the cozy spot, Yorucihi made her way out the shack and down the alleyway. She was intending to go for a nice night run around the neighborhood to clear her mind. She often did this at night to rid herself of the stress she felt during the day. Especially with the recent situations.

As Yoruichi ran along, she stopped abruptly as a looming shadow appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Soi Fon," Yoruichi stated simply.

"Hello, Yoruichi-sama," Soi Fon's smile never seemed more sinister.

* * *

Isshin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and shut the blinds of his daughters' room. That was the second shinigami he had seen perched on a neighboring roof, waiting. Obviously the team they had decided to dispatch consisted of the entire second division. Isshin had to give Yamamoto credit. It made the most sense to send a division specialized in secrecy and discipline to try and draw forth information from Ichigo's friends and family.

Isshin, however, was slowly growing more and more furious by the situation. It was okay if they pried him for information, but his two young daughters was a bit much. Only yesterday, he had caught one of them following Yuzu home from school as he was passing by in his car. He had immediately driven alongside his daughter and picked her up, making sure to flash a dangerous glare in the direction of the second division member. He didn't want his girls exposed to this kind of danger.

What made it worse was that he could barely contact Urahara or Yoruichi without approaching them directly. It seemed as if every time he picked up the phone, he heard several clicks on the other line, signifying that someone was listening in on their conversation. It had only been a week and already it was started to get out of hand. Isshin wasn't sure he could hold back much longer.

* * *

Orihime sighed as she drew the blinds closed and returned to the kitchen. It was times like this where cooking made her feel infinitely better. She didn't like being spied on, it was probably worse than being attacked directly. She only hoped that Kurosaki-kun had not been found.

Inoue turned back to the stove and took a batch of brownies out of the oven. She put them off to the side and put the cooled cookies from her previous batch of sweets onto a serving tray. Both food items were, amazingly enough, not contaminated with bean paste or some other form of unmixable ingredient. The only reason the food wasn't is because it was Orihime's first time trying an American recipe and she didn't want to ruin it. Inoue put the brownies next to the cookies on the tray and brought the treats over to her three awaiting guests.

Tatsuki, Chad, and Ishida had started staying over Orihime's house frequently, ever since the second division started staking out their respective houses. With Inoue being the only one who lived alone, they worried for her safety the most. As Inoue set the desserts down on the table, her three guests shakily muttered thanks. They weren't sure if this new recipe of Inoue's would be appetizing.

Being the only one unwilling to hurt Orihime's feelings, Uryuu took one of the chocolate chip cookies and cautiously took a bite. His face lit up in pleasant surprise and he popped the rest of the morsel into his mouth, "Inoue this is great!" he exclaimed in between chewing.

"Really?!? Oh Ishida-kun that's wonderful! Thank you!" Orihime bounced about cheerily and Chad and Tatsuki each picked up their own cookies, wondering if Uryuu had been faking it. Cautiously they each took a bite of their own cookies and had much of the same reaction as Ishida. Needless to say, Inoue was beaming with pride the entire rest of the night.

* * *

"Taichou, you've been depressed ever since that mission to the real world. What is going on?" Nanao questioned as she took a seat in front of her captain's desk. She had her suspicions about what the matter involved, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"Ah, Nanao-chan, I'm particularly indecisive about this whole situation. On the one hand, I see my best friend attached to tubes in the hospital and I want some kind of justice. On the other, I saw the broken man that Isshin has become, and have my doubts about the younger Kurosaki's involvement in this situation." Kyoraku's shoulders sagged with the admittance of his burden. It felt good to tell someone else.

"I thought you might say something like that," Nanao replied. Isshin looked up at her in surprise and she held up a hand, "We all saw what happened to Ukitake-taichou, but we never saw the events leading up to that moment. It is a little unclear as to what the entire story is. If your second suspicion is right and Ichigo was not involved in the injuries that Ukitake-taichou sustained, then that means we are dealing with entities beyond our level of comprehension."

A grave look passed between the lieutenant and her captain. They had all heard the reports of a new threat arising in hueco muendo, but as of now there were no reports of the threat actually attacking anyone from soul society. The only reason they knew as much as they did now is because teams had been dispatched to hueco muendo about three months ago to retrieve the pieces of the hyougyoku, at Urahara's insistence.

The team had returned with reports of facing entities with reiatsu above the former espada-level hollows and somehow managing an escape. The reports also confirmed that it was almost as if the new entities were being _told_ not to attack. That in and of itself had worried Kyoraku above all else. Why was their leader waiting so long to attack?

"Taichou," Nanao said quietly before meeting her captain's gaze, "If your second suspicion is correct, then we _will_ need Kurosaki Ichigo and the rest of the vizards in this war."

* * *

Kiyone woke from a deep slumber by the sound of alarms screeching somewhere nearby. Startled, her eyes snapped open at locked gazes with Sentaro's before the duo looked up at their beloved captain's monitor. The screen was flashing and it was obvious that Ukitake's heart had stopped beating. Kiyone only had a few moments to reflect on the situation before she was being forcibly dragged out of the room so that Unohana had more space to work. She watched as her sister, Isane, rushed in alongside of her captain and the two begun casting various healing kidos to attempt to resuscitate Ukitake.

Kiyone could only watch in horrified awe as her captain was repeatedly shocked with a kidou to get his heart to beat again. Kiyone silently swore to herself that she would personally kill Kurosaki, Ichigo the next time she laid eyes on him. How could that horrible boy do such a thing to her captain?

Kiyone suddenly gasped for air as she felt the heavy reiatsu of the captain-commander enter the small room. She looked up at the old man and noted that he was looking panicked at the site before him. Kyoraku walked in behind him with Nanao and both stared in horror at the scene. Kiyone suddenly grew angry. Why were they reacting like that? They were acting as if her captain was already dead!

"He's not dead yet, damn it! HE'S NOT DEAD YET!" She bellowed at the trio. She watched as their eyes snapped towards her and she suddenly felt two arms haul her off the ground and into the air. She heard Sentaro apologize profusely to the seated officers before he bolted out of the room, Kiyone still hollering the same sentence over and over again.

Yamamoto watched as Unohana attempted to resuscitate Ukitake's heart for the final time. There was no change. Yamamoto closed his eyes, grief consuming him completely. Well, for all of a minute anyway. A slow beeping noise attracted his attention and he opened his eyes to see that the heart monitor was slowly but steadily climbing it's way up. Ukitake was still alive.

Yamamoto turned and left without a word to anyone.

* * *

"Matsumoto, WAKE UP!" Captain Hitsugaya roared in the general direction of his lieutenant. Matsumoto flew from the couch, her hair wild and her eyes startled as she stared at her tiny captain.

"Taichou, I'm sorry I didn't mean to –"

"We received a message from the Kuchikis," Hitsugaya interrupted, "They are in negotiations with the Kasumiōji clan to use their senkai gate at a time in the future in order for us to reenter the real world and help Isshin and the others. We will all communicate via hell butterfly until then. It's too dangerous to try and having a meeting about this."

"Taichou, are you really willing to risk everything for Ichigo-kun?" Matsumoto asked seriously.

"If there _is_ another war approaching, he and the vizards are the only hope we have, Matsumoto," he paused and looked away, "Also, he saved my life. I owe him the same in return."

Matsumoto looked at her captain in surprise as he returned to fill out his stack of documents.

* * *

_Hitsugaya was pinned in between a concrete wall and his own layer of ice and was bleeding profusely. At this rate, there wasn't a chance in hell he would survive, unless his opponent, Ichimaru Gin, suddenly decided to call it quits._

_"Shinso," he heard a voice say and knew it was the fox-like traitor, "Shoot to kill."_

_Hitsugaya could do nothing but watch, with wide eyes, as his opponents zanpakuto raced towards him, with every intention of piercing his heart. Toshiro closed his eyes and prayed that his death was swift. However, it never came._

_He opened his eyes again to see Ichigo Kurosaki knocking Gin's blade into a nearby wall. Ichigo turned towards him and used his zanpakuto to free Hitsugaya from his imprisonment._

_"Thank you, Kurosaki."_

_"It's Ichigo."_

* * *

"MATSUMOTO!!! STOP DAYDREAMING AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!!"

"Hai, Taichou!!"


	4. With Our Heads Held High

**Author's Note:** _Let me just start off by apologizing for the delay in publishing this chapter. It has been an extremely busy week, and next week is only busier. Secondly, let me say that I did not check this chapter for errors. I am extremely tired and need sleep, haha. So please excuse me if I have several errors in this chapter._

**Nekura Enzeru: **Haha, I love that aspect about Hitsugaya too ; - P. And thanks! I actually am a huge fan of the vizards (primarily Shinji *cough*) and love their interaction so I want to incorporate as much of that as I can. And I KNOW! I can't believe I made Yama-jii into such an asshole. But I guess **someone**has to be the bad guy in this (well other than the bad guy I've made short hints about ; - P).

**MrsKurosaki x:** Haha thank you muchly for the favorites add! And Rukia will totally get her man ; - P. If she didn't, all would be losttt!

**kaiserkawaii:** yesss, an update! And look here, another one! Though admittedly this one was a bit longer of a wait. Sorry!

**Anonymous:** I wasn't aware that I had mentioned Kiyone so much! Sorry! I guess if I did it's only cause her captain seems to be the most injured at the moment? Had to have someone dishing out the mega-Ukitake love.

* * *

**Chapter Four: **_With Our Heads Held High  
_  
_**////**_

"_With our heads held high, we walk the unmarked roads."_

* * *

Ichigo was sprawled out onto the sandy ground, his hair matted to his forehead. His breaths were extremely labored and there was an expression of annoyance gracing his features. Ichigo watched as Mashiro skipped over to him and hovered just above his head. If he weren't so exhausted, Ichigo probably would have strangled her.

"Forget it, Shinji-chan, Berry-tan will never learn kido. He sucks almost as much as Kensei," she proclaimed cheerily.

"Hadou #31, Shakkaho!" Kensei shouted pressing his palms forward. Everyone watched as a burst of flame flew at Mashiro's boot, and melted it.

Suddenly Ichigo roared and started rolling around on the sand wildly. Mashiro's boot had been right next to Ichigo's head, and now Ichigo was attempting to salvage his damaged hair.

"Nice going, Kensei, now Berry-tan will have to go to the hair dressers with me tomorrow!"

Kensei grimaced as Ichigo stood up and looked at him angrily, "Sorry Ichigo…wrong target."

"There seems to be a lot of that going around today," Shinji muttered as he dumped a water bottle onto Ichigo's head. More shouts were heard and the sound of a fist connecting with flesh, before Shinji was hunched over on the ground; His face a mask of pain.

"I was only trying to help!" Shinji wheezed and glared up at the youngest vizard.

"By soaking me with water?" Ichigo snarled before squeezing water out of his clothing, "Can we just continue?"

"You still have the energy?" Shinji questioned seriously. The way Ichigo had been just moments earlier suggested otherwise.

"Not really, but I want to accomplish _something_ before we call it a night," Ichigo replied and shifted his gaze towards Hiyori and Rose, who were busy sword fighting on their own.

"Alright then try it again. Byakurai is one of the most basic forms of kido," Shinji paused and ran a hand through his already messy hair, "If something doesn't happen by the end of the night, then we should probably switch back to vizard training."

As Ichigo attempted to produce a Byakurai, Shinji had lazily started to duel Love and Lisa. Although all of the vizards, Ichigo included, were excellent swordsman they had decided that it was important to monitor the others' fighting style in order to create new combination attacks using various styles in case they ever faced a difficult opponent.  
Hiyori, having just finished learning two of Rose's techniques, collapsed onto the ground near Ichigo and took a long drink from her water bottle. She watched as the former shinigami-turned-vizard exerted all of his effort into casting the kido spell.

"You're hopeless, Ichigo. I don't think you'll ever learn kido. How do you expect that shinigami trash to ever love you if you can't even protect her with, _that_?" Hiyori taunted, gesturing wildly.

Ichigo snarled in her direction, "Shut the hell up! You don't know enough about her to judge whether or not she's trash. And this –," He held up a hand, "Byakurai –," he was cut off as a large flash of lightning emitted from his hand and crashed into the mountains beyond. Flabbergasted, Ichigo stood staring off into the distance, his mouth hanging wide open.

"Ha! I thought that would work. Shinji, look! I got the asshole to make it work!" Hiyori was practically beaming as she took in Ichigo's bewildered expression, "Now if you could just manage to do it at will, you're all set."

Shinji strode over to the pair and raised an eyebrow at Hiyori, "Maybe we should just let ya taunt him during our battles. With attacks like that, we'd sure as hell win."

Hiyori took off one of her sandals and slapped Shinji across the face, who shouted in pain.

"Hiyori! What the hell was THAT for?!!?" Shinji whined, rubbing his sore nose.

"Idiot! We'd win the battles anyway," she huffed before grabbing her sweater-jacket.

"Unless anyone has any objections," she growled out looking over at her fellow vizards, "We should hit the sack. Long day tomorrow."

"Doing what?" Ichigo questioned, having been snapped out of his reverie by Hiyori's attack to Shinji's face.

"More training, dumbass," She looked around at everyone once more, "Let's go."

There was a collective sigh as everyone followed Hiyori into the house. The three girls departed with a brief 'good night' before heading upstairs. Love, Kensei, Hachi, and Rose also departed for the downstairs bedrooms. The remaining two were Ichigo and Shinji, who were currently sitting across from each other at the kitchen table.

"I know this isn't exactly the kind of life you imagined you'd be living, Ichigo, but at least you're living," he paused and raised a hand as Ichigo went to interrupt him, "What I have to tell you is important. Before we became vizards, we were all captains and lieutenants in the Gotei 13. We all had friends and lives within those positions. Then, as you know, we became vizards. Not of our own free will, mind you. After that, things went down hill. We lost friends, and were sentenced to die. But we kept our integrity and individuality intact. As long as you remember who you are, Ichigo, then everything else will fall into place. Some people – like us – will stick with you. Others will be against you. Those others are the people that don't matter. This is your life and these are your decisions. We can guide you as much as you want, but ultimately you have to make the decisions for yourself," He looked up at Ichigo seriously.

"You're not a kid anymore. The day you took Rukia's shinigami powers was the day you gave up your childhood. I wish it didn't have to be that way, but that's how it is. The only thing you have left to do is focus on daily preparation, and most importantly, focus on keeping your heart in tact."

Ichigo looked up at Shinji with newly found respect. He hadn't realized how much insight and wisdom the older vizard held. Ichigo was used to seeing the goofy and laid back Shinji. This serious side wasn't something he was used to. Shinji's words, however, had a profound meaning to Ichigo. As long as had his heart and his mind, things would be okay.

"I don't think I ever _was_ a kid," Ichigo murmured quietly.

He drummed his fingers lightly on the table before making a silent decisions, "Although I went along with the idea of coming here with all of you, I'd like to keep that decision. I'd like to stay as a member of the vizards. _Permanently_," Ichigo added at the end.

Shinji looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure you should be making that decision so early? Once this is over, if you want to go back to being a shinigami --."

"I'm positive. I never really fit in with the shinigami anyway. Besides, who knows how long it will be until this is over," Ichigo replied tiredly.

Shinji pushed his chair backwards and stood up. He placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder and locked eyes with him, "Alright then, Ichigo Kurosaki, welcome to the vizards. We're happy to have you. Now go get some sleep."

Ichigo couldn't disagree with that. Yawning loudly, he stretched his arms over his head before making his way to his room. Closing the door behind him, he walked into the spacious bathroom to his right and flicked on the light.

Gazing into the mirror, his reflection startled him. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, making him look extremely _hollow_. How fitting. Ichigo set about to brushing his teeth. After finishing that, he was about to head off to bed when a silver glint shimmered in his peripheral vision. Turning back towards the mirror, he watched in shocked fascination as a small silver orb formed on the glass. If that wasn't odd enough, the orb was bubbling and spreading rapidly. Soon the entire mirror was covered in sizzling goo. Ichigo reached out and touched the liquid, and the world went black.

* * *

As Ichigo opened his eyes, dark clouds passed overhead. Lightning flashed in the distance, signaling an impeding storm. He stood up and looked to see that he was in his inner world.

_But how?  
_

"Because we called you here, idiot," His hollow sneered at him from his right. Ichigo turned to see both his hollow and Zangetsu standing side by side.

"What is this all about? And what was that silver shit all over my mirror?" Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and raised an aggravated eyebrow at the duo.

"That was an illusion," Zangetsu stated simply, not bothering to elaborate on the incident, "Ichigo, we brought you here because your father is in danger."

"What?!" Ichigo screamed, terror creeping its way throughout his veins. The worst possible scenario that Ichigo had conjured up during the beginning of this whole mess was now becoming more and more realistic.

"At approximately 11:45 pm, last night, Jushiro Ukitake went into cardiac arrest," Zangetsu stated slowly and Ichigo's expression became bewildered, "He's fine. Unohana was able to stabilize him. Yamamoto, however, was deeply perturbed by the incident."

"Basically, what the old man is tryin' to say is this: Yama-jii got pissed about the incident and ordered Soi Fon and her division of shit heads to bring your dad to the soul society. He was placed under arrest until further notice," his hollow interrupted.

Ichigo's head started to spin. He felt as if he was going to be sick. He didn't want his family to be in danger because of this whole mess, but now – it seemed – that they were.

"How can he do that?!?! It's not my damn father's fault that Ukitake went into cardiac arrest!" Ichigo's reiatsu was flaring wildly, so much that his hollow had started to grimace at the pressure.

"Listen King, If you want I can come on out and we can burry those assholes into the ground," his hollow smiled at him wickedly.

"You have no idea how much I wish that were a possibility," Ichigo stated angrily.

"Yet you can do no such thing," Zangetsu stated firmly, "Which is why your inner world is in such a state of chaos."

Ichigo didn't reply. It was true. Lately the source of his angst was in knowing that he wasn't in a position to do anything for anyone.

He sighed heavily before a thought struck him, "Wait a minute. How are you two getting all of this information?"

"Oh _that_," his hollow grinned before producing something in the palm of his hand. As Ichigo looked closely, he noted that the object was a hell butterfly. A _green_ hell butterfly.

"Urahara is a freakin' genius. He stole one of soul society's hell butterflies and modified it. Now it will relay messages only to _us_," he gestured between himself and Zangetsu.

"Why you two?" Ichigo questioned curiously.

"Because, _King_, it would be too dangerous to send this baby to you directly. It might've been intercepted. Instead, Urahara sends it through your spiritual world."

"We will update you with information as necessary, Ichigo. If we bring you in here too much it might have dangerous effects on your health," Zangetsu added softly.

"Yeah because making me think my mirror is melting isn't unhealthy enough as it is," Ichigo muttered, "What about my sisters? Who's taking care of them?" he asked suddenly.

"Ah, Urahara and Yoruichi temporarily moved into your house to take care of them. Yuzu and Karin are fine. Yamamoto won't harm them. They're too young."

_And anyone that's __**not **__too young?_ Ichigo thought, terror once again making an appearance as he listened to Zangetsu's words. How many people would have to be arrested or killed until Yamamoto was satisfied that Ukitake was going to be okay or that Ichigo himself was apprehended and killed? He couldn't bare the thought of losing any of his friends. He especially couldn't imagine losing Rukia.

"What about Rukia? Have you heard anything from her?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

"Only what we heard from Urahara. Apparently divisions 13, 6, 10, and 11 were suspended of their operations because of the riots they were instigating in your favor," Zangetsu replied.

Ichigo's eyes widened. He had the full support of at least four divisions? He had almost started to believe that all of soul society was against him. Hearing the news that he had _some_ support in soul society made him feel more at ease. Especially knowing that those four divisions would try and help his dad.

"Also, Rukia wanted to give ya _this_ message," his hollow said, holding out the butterfly towards Ichigo.

Ichigo took the creature in his hands and listened intently as the message was given to him. _'I feel the same way. See you soon, Ichigo.'_ Ichigo couldn't help but let a small smile grace his features. Rukia loved him. Rukia Kuchiki was _in love_ with him. Somehow, someway, Ichigo would get through this whole mess knowing that.

"It's time for you to go," Zangetsu stated suddenly.

Ichigo whirled towards him, "Now wait a minute! I'm not done –,"

The world went black once more.

* * *

Opening his eyes, Ichigo allowed his annoyance to take over for all of two seconds before he heard banging on his bed room door.

"Ichigo! It's one thirty in the afternoon! How long are you going to sleep? What are you doing in there? Open up or I'll knock the door down!" Shinji's voice floated into the room and Ichigo bolted off of the floor.

_One thirty in the afternoon?_ Sure enough the sun was shining through his window. Ichigo groaned. He hadn't even gotten any sleep. Traveling to his inner world didn't exactly give him rest. Also, on the plus side, now he had muscle cramps from lying on the floor for so long.

Ichigo quickly walked to his door and opened it. He was greeted by the image of Shinji holding a fist in the air, as if to knock on his door again.

Taking in his appearance, Shinji dropped his hand to his side and his eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Ah, Ichigo, what happened? You don't look so good."

"Is everyone here? I have some news," Ichigo replied and walked past him towards the kitchen.

To his surprise, everyone was already gathered either around the table or the kitchen counters, their attention focused on him and his haggard appearance.

"I got some information from my hollow last night," Ichigo stated and watched as a bit of an uproar occurred. Multiple questions were thrown his way at once and Ichigo held up a hand, "Just shut up and let me explain."

* * *

"I wonder how far they are going to go," Urahara mused out loud as he poured himself and Yoruichi some tea.

"It doesn't matter," Karin suddenly appeared in the kitchen, taking both adults by surprise, "They already took away Ichi-ni and dad. They can't do much else to hurt us," her eyes filled with moisture and she looked away.

"Karin.." Yoruichi started but was waved away. She watched as Karin's shoulders sagged as she made her way back into the family room.

"We have to do something soon, Kisuke. All these events are killing those girls emotionally."

Urahara nodded his head, somberly as he glanced off in the direction of Karin. The usually stoic girl could be heard crying on several occasions over the past week. Urahara couldn't blame her. It was one thing to be separated from your brother. It was another thing entirely to be separated from both your brother _and_ your father.

"Ah, Yoruichi, you never did say what you discussed with Soi Fon that night," Urahara pressed suddenly.

"It wasn't so much of a discussion," Yoruichi recalled the night she had been trapped by Soi Fon while in her cat form, "She was bitching about my alliance with 'that dreaded Kurosaki boy' and then broke down in tears at my supposed betrayal. So I did what any feline would do in that situation," she paused and smiled maliciously, "I clawed her face and ran away."

"I really doubt that's what most felines would do," Kisuke whispered, grimacing at the mental images.

"I guess I probably didn't help sway her position on the whole matter, but Soi Fon would have done what she wanted anyway. She's so uptight," Yoruichi sighed heavily.

"Oi, Kisuke, I almost forgot. Ichigo's friends are sleeping over here tonight. I told them it would be better if they did. If the second division is planning on pressing everyone for information tomorrow, I'd rather they'd do it while we're all together. Especially since – as former members of the second division – we know what sort of _methods_ they will try to use for that process," Yoruichi shared a worried look with Kisuke.

Yes. He certainly knew what kind of methods the second division would try and use tomorrow, "We'll have to avert _that_ kind of situation at all costs."

Yoruichi nodded her head and sipped her tea slowly. She started going over procedures in her head before her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the front door. Both herself and Kisuke were on their feet immediately. They walked towards the door, stealth mode completely functional, and readied their weapons. Neither one of them could sense any reiatsu coming from behind the door. Standing back, Yoruichi opened the door at a distance with her foot and readied herself for an attack.

Her muscles immediately relaxed as she took in the appearance of Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta, all huddled together under Urahara's reiatsu-hiding cloak. She moved off to the right and waited for them to enter the household before she closed and locked the door again.

"Ah, you nearly gave us a heart attack," Yoruichi accused Tessai before following the trio into the kitchen.

"My apologies, Yoruichi-sama. We thought it would be best to arrive in such a fashion so as not to be detected by the second division."

Urahara nodded his head, beaming somewhat, "Excellent tactics, Tessai-san. I hope the others remember to wear their cloaks as well."

Tessai motioned towards Ururu and Jinta, "Why don't you two go and cheer up Yuzu and Karin? I'm sure they could use some friends right now."

Jinta's face lit up at Yuzu's name and he dragged Ururu behind him, "We're already gone!"

It wasn't until Jinta had completely left the room that Yoruichi decided to comment on the several bags Tessai was carrying, "Tessai, why do you have so many bags?"

"Ah, these are groceries. We have many people staying at the Kurosaki's tonight, so I thought I would buy groceries for at least the next couple of meals while they stay here."

Urahara nodded again, pleased with Tessai's thinking, "And the kido spells?"

"All of the protection magic has been cast around the respective buildings," Tessai replied and the other two sighed in relief.

Housing everyone at the Kurosaki's meant that all other households would be left unprotected. The adults were forced to go to great lengths to ensure that all belongings were safely guarded behind various kido spells.

Tessai brought the bags further into the kitchen and started to unpack the groceries. He pulled out various pots and pans and began preparing dinner. The others were expected to arrive at 5:30. It was 5:00 now. If they didn't arrive in half an hour, it had already been decided that Yoruichi and Tessai would go out looking for them. Tessai prayed that they wouldn't have to.

* * *

"Inoue, are you almost ready?" Tatsuki asked impatiently as Chad, Ishida, and herself waited by the front door. It was already 5:15. If they didn't leave soon, the others would think that they had gotten into some serious trouble. Tatsuki tightened the black cloak around her neck and glared at Uryuu pointedly.

Fearing for his safety, Uryuu disappeared into the upstairs portion of the house, in search of his girlfriend. He found her sitting at the desk in her bedroom, fiddling with what appeared to be a locket. As he came up behind her, he realized that the picture in the locket was of her brother. Orihime turned and looked up at Uryuu, tears filling her eyes as she dropped the locket into her bag and heaved the bag over her shoulders.

"Uryuu, you don't think the same thing will happen to Ichigo, do you?" she questioned innocently.

Ishida wrapped Orihime in a tight embrace and buried his head in her hair, "Of course not. Kurosaki is strong. He'll figure out a way to get out of this mess."

Orihime smiled slightly at that before Uryuu gently lead her downstairs. Tatsuki let out an audible sigh of relief before the four left the house. The minute they stepped off of the property, a blue glow momentarily lit up the house before subsiding. If they hadn't been previously notified of the protection kidos being placed on the house, they probably would have been fearful at the sight. However, they mostly just ignored it, and started the journey to Kurosaki's house.

They were about a block away from the aforementioned house when they felt an overwhelming reiatsu in their wake.

"What's this?" Ishida breathed, his eyes alarmed, "This is a captain-level reiatsu."

"Correct," said a voice from behind them.

The four turned to see Captain Soi Fon, leader of the second division, standing only feet away from them. Her appearance was noticeably different than the last time they had seen her. She had bloodied claw marks down each side of her face. All four had some idea where _that_ had come from.

"Would you like to tell me where you're headed?" Soi Fon asked in mock politeness.

"Not Particularly," Tasuki replied abruptly.

Soi Fon's nostrils flared in annoyance and she considered drop-kicking the outspoken girl before she restrained herself. The only orders she had been given were to extract information using any means necessary. She wasn't allowed to kill anyone. _Yet._

"This would be a lot less painful for all of you if you would just speak up about Kurosaki's whereabouts," Soi Fon stated, meeting each of their gazes.

"Even if we _were_ aware of Kurosaki's present location, what makes you think we would tell you?" Ishida questioned scathingly.

"I think you would tell me if what you held most precious was at stake," Soi Fon replied mysteriously.

Before anyone could question what she meant, there was a blur of color and Yoruichi appeared between Soi Fon and the quartet.

"I think that's enough for today, Soi Fon, using scare tactics isn't going to get you anywhere," the former second division captain said icily.

"Fine, after all, we _do_ have an appointment for tomorrow. I'll just get my answers how I see fit then," Soi Fon retorted before she disappeared altogether.

"Yoruichi-sama, what does she mean by 'how she sees fit'?" Orihime questioned, worry gracing her features.

"Nothing, don't listen to her taunts. Let's get back to the house. Tessai has dinner prepared and is already mad enough that I left to fetch you guys without him."

* * *

Isshin Kurosaki sat on the plain white cot in his cell and envisioned himself beating Yamamoto upside the head with one of the metal bars from his cell for about the hundredth time. The old man was going completely insane. He had no purpose or right, even, to arrest Isshin and bring him to soul society. The ass even had the nerve to bring up charges against him and the union of his dead wife just to find a good enough reason to arrest him. It was all becoming a bit ridiculous.

The only benefit was that Yama-jii was probably making himself look like a dumbass in front of his subordinates. Well, those that weren't following him like loyal puppies. It aggravated Isshin most of all that he had to be separated from his girls. They had already suffered enough trauma and pain in the last week. They certainly did not need more.

Isshin stretched his arms and stood up before peering out of his cell. The only thing he could make out was an endless wall of white going both ways. It was bad enough that he was stuck inside the tiny cell, but he didn't even have much of an atmosphere or anything to keep him remotely occupied. The only source of entertainment he had had the past few days was thinking up different ways to kill Yamamoto. And even _that_ had ended when he started to think about strangling the old man with a hula-hoop. He had had no idea where _that_ idea came from.

A faint noise caught Isshin's attention and he waited for the noise to come closer. Soon his vision was filled with the sight of a grown-up Byakuya Kuchiki. Isshin's eyes widened in surprise as he stood back slightly from the cell.

"Byakuya Kuchiki. My, you've really grown up. You look good."

"And you look awful," Byakuya commented. _Typical Byakuya._

"Right. Is there some reason you came all the way down here? Other than to taunt me?" Isshin commented tiredly.

"I came to notify you that – presently – I am hosting a party with some friends. There is a bountiful amount of food. All of it being fresh produce of course. The Kuchiki's only serve the finest. The strawberries are among Rukia's favorite, naturally. I think she's planning on taking some to her friend Lurichiyo of the Kasumioji clan. Considering we have many left overs, I could put in a request to replace your current food with some of my own, if you'd like."

Byakuya couldn't believe he had actually said all of that. He still wasn't entirely sure as to how Rukia had managed to convince him to use such a stupid means of encryption. Isshin understanding something like that was totally absurd. Most likely the man probably thought he was insane. Which was ironic considering Isshin was usually the insane one.

Isshin had been focusing intently on every word that spilled from the older Kuchiki's lips. Amazingly enough, Isshin had realized the minute the word 'food' came out of Byakuya's mouth, that it was an encoded message. Now all he had to do was decipher what it really meant. It was obvious why Byakuya had done this. Not only were there many guards that could over hear their conversation, but there were also security cameras almost everywhere in the prison.

Isshin knew immediately that strawberries was in reference to his son, which inadvertently meant it was in reference to himself. He had heard enough cracks about that in his son's life time. So far Isshin knew that there were a group of people working on some plan to take Isshin to the Kasumioji clan. He just had no idea why he would have to go there of all places.

Isshin glanced back up at Byakuya, "Actually I think I'll accept your offer."

Byakuya could immediately tell that Isshin had understood, on some level, what his message had really meant.

"Oh and Byakuya?" The elder Kuchiki turned to Isshin questioningly, "Why are you doing this for me?"

"I owe it to you," Byakuya smiled – a rare sight – "Besides, I think everyone is fond of strawberries."

Isshin nodded in agreement, "Yes, I imagine they are.."  
_  
_


	5. Empathy

**Author's Note: **Alright! Another chapter! Okay, so the plot definitely bolted forward in this chapter haha. And I must make an apology to any Tatsuki fans. I pretty much effectively killed her plot-wise in this chapter (hmm if I hadn't added the plot-wise…). Also I made up some facts in this chapter about certain things, but I didn't feel as if they affected the characters/situations/etc in a drastic way, so I feel pretty good about it, all in all. If anything needs clarification, please let me know in your next review. Also, for anyone that was curious…there will be more information about the 'big bad' in the next chapter, I promise.

**uzumakisunspydr: **Thanks! I thought it was really important to throw that support in there. Though, as seen in this chapter, I had to throw in another challenge to the 'support Ichigo' group. If there are too many 'good guys' then people start to question the realistic (well as realistic as an anime/manga about soul reapers can get) qualities of the plot.

**kaiserkawaii: **Haha, I like strawberries too. In fact I had some for dessert earlier, : - ).

** MrsKurosaki x: **Haha, I could totally see Isshin strangling Yama-jii with a hula hoop too. It definitely wouldn't surprise me. And yeah, I'm liking the giant support group as well. Although more support means more challenges to come their way!

**DarkJason: **Haha! Thanks so much! It's comments like this that make me want to continue writing this story. Glad you like it!

**rukia death kuchiki & BioHazard82: **Thanks! Glad you like it!

**realityfling18: **Haha thanks! I agree. I think if we just let Hiyori harass people during battle, they'll be sure to win every fight.

**Nekura Enzeru:** Thanks! I try to be more laid back when I'm writing the vizard scenes, only because they just seem to be a pretty laid back group in general. I'm also trying to incorporate more of Urahara's inventions. I mean the man works constantly on this stuff, and we only get to see about a fraction of what he produces in the anime/manga.

**Eternity Crystal**: Thanks! Originally, the story was only going to focus on the vizards and their activities, but then I realized how important it was to incorporate other situations and time frames. It really helps to develop the plot and move it along.

* * *

**Chapter Five:** _Empathy_

_//////////  
_

"…_Some can has it…"_

_

* * *

  
_

Seireti was in an uproar for what seemed like the 800th time in the past week. Two massive explosions had gone off, causing extensive damage to the surrounding area. One of the explosions was set off in the 18th district of Rukongai, where the area was mostly devoid of population, meaning that there had been no casualties. Oddly enough the other explosion was set off in one of the many storage buildings located just at the edge of sereiti. It was odd because, again, there were no casualties.

This hadn't stopped Yamamoto, however, from sending out various troops to investigate both scenes. He, himself, was currently leading the investigation team in Rukongai. Also, conveniently, Captain Kurotsuchi was forced to stop his side-investigation of the prison's security tapes in order to figure out what exactly had caused the explosion. If the captain-commander hadn't decided to jump all over the current situation, he would have realized that – elsewhere – there was an escape plan being put into action.

Captain Hitsugaya and his lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, were currently rushing along the corridors of the heavily-guarded prison in search of Isshin's cell. Up until now, the duo had had to take out the guards in a precise manner. If they hadn't knocked them out from behind, the guards would have given away their plan the instant they had woken up. Although everyone involved would have been in the real world by then – they wanted to make sure they had enough time to gather Urahara's group before leaving Japan completely.

It was almost unreal that they were all willing to go the lengths Ichigo had gone, in order to help Isshin. However, everyone involved knew that there were no second chances after this. If they were to bail Isshin out, it meant that they were past the point of being threatened with arrest. This time around, they would be facing execution. Which is why each step of their plan had to be performed immaculately.

Matsumoto winced as she heard the loud crash of another frozen security camera fall to the ground before breaking into pieces. Even though she knew that the entire layout of the prison had promised no guards in this specific area, she couldn't help but feel as if someone would catch them at the slightest sound. Matsumoto halted to a stop as her captain held up a hand. The duo stood motionless, watching the clock for a full minute in agony before the hour hand and the minute hand both moved to twelve.

_Twelve O'clock p.m. __**Lunch time.**_

__Turning the corner casually, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto walked as if they were on a cloud the rest of the way ahead of them. They watched as a random shinigami from the first division swung open the metal door to the cell ahead of them. Then – again – they both watched as the hilt of Hitsugaya's zanpakuto crashed down on the head of said first division member. As the man went down -- lunch tray and all-- they met the bewildered gaze of Isshin Kurosaki.

"There's no time for questions. Follow us," Hitsugaya breathed before turning swiftly and leading the trio back out of the prison.

As Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, and Isshin used the back ways to make their way towards the Kasumioji clan's property, they heard a sudden yelp. Whirling around in alarm, Hitsugaya held the blade of his zanpakuto up to Hinamori Momo's neck. Realizing what he had done, Hitsugaya quickly withdrew his zanpakuto.

"Hinamori, what are you doing here?" He growled out, annoyance in his tone, "Matsumoto take Isshin the rest of the way, we don't have time for delays."

"But Taichou, if they catch you—,"

"GO!" Hitsugaya roared in her direction and watched as his lieutenant and the other man ran off.

"Toshiro-kun. Isn't that the prisoner, Isshin Kurosaki? Why are you helping him?" Hinamori asked innocently.

"It _is_ him," Hitsugaya replied icily, "What are your intentions, now that you know?"

"Toshiro…." Hinamori paused and tears filled her eyes, "Why are you being so cold?"

It was a rather ironic question, if Hitsugaya had time to muse on it, "What are your intentions?" He asked again. It wasn't that he was trying to be so harsh on purpose. It was mostly that he was terrified of the consequences that this interruption would have not only on his own safety – but that of Matsumoto's.

"I don't know.." she replied uncertainly, "Can't we just talk about this, Toshiro?"

"I don't have time to _talk_," he snarled, "Too many peoples' lives hang in the balance."

"If what you say is true," she trailed off and her voice shook, "Then I won't tell anyone. I don't want anyone else to be hurt by my actions."

Hitsugaya didn't have time to reflect on that statement. He simply sheathed his zanpakuto and flash-stepped away from the bewildered girl, silently praying that she wasn't lying.

He arrived at the Kasumioji manor a short period later to find that -- other than Kenryu and Enryu – only his lieutenant remained in the vicinity.

"Matsumoto, I told you to go on without me!" He shouted.

"Taichou, I couldn't leave without you," Matsumoto said seriously, "It wouldn't be right."

Hitsugaya stepped towards the senkai gate before looking at Matsumoto gratefully, "Thank you, Matsumoto."

The two waved goodbye to Kenryu and Enryu before rushing through the Senkai gate. They knew there was no going back after this. The Kasumioji clan was going to seal their Senkai gate as soon as Matsumoto and Hitsugaya made it through to the other side. They would now officially be fugitives of soul society.

* * *

"Fine. If you won't answer me as a group, then I will ask each of you individually," Soi Fon declared as she stared at the group before her. They were all settled onto different parts of the two couches of the Kurosaki's living room.

Soi Fon had been attempting to 'extract' information from them for the past two hours with no success. It was surprising that she had even managed to last _that_ long.

However, Soi Fon's latest statement had struck a nerve with both Kisuke and Yoruichi. Individual questioning was the situation that they were trying to avert. If Soi Fon took Yoruichi or Kisuke away to be interrogated separately, it would be fine because they would know what to expect. The others, however, would be in serious danger.

"Why don't I start with the brat?" Soi Fon snarled, motioning towards Tatsuki. Immediately, the people on either side of Tatsuki attempted to cover her, as if that would stop Soi Fon from noticing her existence.

Soi Fon smiled wickedly, and before most of them could process what had happened, Soi Fon had Tatsuki held in front of her with both of her arms pins behind her back. Almost simultaneously, Yoruichi and Urahara had surrounded Soi Fon on either side with their zanpakuto's at her neck.

This only made Soi Fon smile even more. She snapped her fingers briefly and members of the second division detained Yoruichi and Urahara long enough for Soi Fon to drag Tatsuki out of the room. Urahara and Yoruichi had terrified looks on their faces as they watched the event.

Soi Fon dragged the squirming girl upstairs into Ichigo's room before throwing her onto Ichigo's desk chair. Tatsuki bolted from the chair, aiming for the door. Instantly, the sound of a bone being dislodged from its socket was heard as Soi Fon dislocated Tatsuki's shoulder. Tatsuki screeched in pain and she attempted to stem the flow of tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks.

"Is _that_ what will get the brat to remain motionless?" Soi Fon pondered out loud. She wasn't, however, expecting the perfect round-house kick that had just implanted itself in her face.

Soi Fon flew into Ichigo's closet, where Kon had been trying to take a nap. Her head had been thrown violently against one of the shelves and she grunted in pain. Clearing her head from the dizziness that was clouding her vision, Soi Fon ignored Kon's bitching about his interrupted nap and instead bolted towards Tatsuki. The girl had managed to make it so far as to open the door before Soi Fon grabbed her ankle.

Letting out a startled yell, it quickly turned into a long scream of pain as Soi Fon proceeded to break every one of Tatsuki's fingers on her right hand. Soi Fon enjoyed the power high for all of two minutes before she heard crashing noises from downstairs. _What the hell was going on?_

Ignoring Tatsuki for the moment, Soi Fon stepped into the upstairs hallway and looked down the flight of stairs. Two of the men from her division literally flew into her vision as they landed at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious. Soi Fon bolted down the stairs and turned the corner to see a rather horrifying sight in front of her. Apparently the Quincy and s friend, Chad, had decided to break out their powers on the second division at the sound of their friend's pain.

Soi Fon also noted that Urahara was knocking her members out left and right using the hilt of his zanpakuto. But what made Soi Fon the angriest was that Yoruichi was throwing punches and kicks in a whirl-wind to her surrounding members. The little 'battle' had managed to take out all of the division members that had been sent with Soi Fon to the house. Soi Fon howled in fury before claming herself down rapidly. Bringing her thumb and pointer finger into a circle into her mouth, Soi Fon let out a piercing whistle. Instantly, 300 more of her division's members poured into the house from every possible exit.

"The games are over," Soi Fon paused before looking at the completely trapped group, "Now you die."

Just as she was about to issue the killing order, a voice broke eerily over the crowd, "Chire, Sebonzakura."

Soi Fon watched in horror as a thousand cherry blossoms filled the room, and in an instant all three hundred of her men and women were unconscious. Obviously Byakuya's shikai had gained some new ability that could temporarily disable others in battle. Soi Fon watched in alarm as Byakuya Kuchiki and Rukia Kuchiki entered the room with Isshin Kurosaki at their side. Yuzu and Karin immediately bolted to their father, who scooped both of them up at once and hugged them.

Soi Fon was about to speak, when a wild reiatsu burst into the room. Her head snapped in the direction of the other nearest exit as Zaraki Kenpachi entered with his lieutenant draped over his shoulder. Madarame and Yumichika were standing behind the pair, zanpakuto's drawn. Finally, Soi Fon's attention was drawn to the last exit, her only chance of escape. As she made her way closer to the exit, she watched in horror as Captain Hitsugaya and his lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku stepped through, with Renji Abarai close behind them, effectively blocking her chance for escape.

Soi Fon, however, wasn't about to give up without a fight. She knew she was outnumbered and against five captains for that matter, but she didn't want to be seen as weak. She wasn't going to give in without injuring at least one person. Turning to face Byakuya, Soi Fon held up her zanpakuto and prepared herself.

"You realize that – after me – others will come for you. They won't stop until your dead."

"We are all quite aware of that. However, we are prepared to take down any other threats," Byakuya replied and watched as Kenpachi's face lit up at the thought.

Everyone's attention focused back on Soi Fon as she laughed loudly, "No, Kuchiki, you don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. Now alongside of helping a criminal escape, you have all been charged with instigating two attacks on sereiti and abandoning your positions as captains and vice-captains," She laughed again and lifted her zanpakuto, "Now you must deal with the royal guard as well."

Everyone's eyes widened at that statement. All of the captains in the room were well aware that the royal guard was the most powerful defense that soul society had to offer. It was compromised of former captains and vice-captains, after all.

Rukia's attention was drawn to Isshin as he suddenly stepped forward to speak, "Then we will do as my son did, and leave."

Karin and Yuzu looked up at their father in shock, "Are we really leaving dad?"

"We have to, girls. We have no choice."

There was a collective murmur of agreement on that statement, even from Uryuu and Orihime, who had just reappeared in the room with a fully-healed Tatsuki. Yoruichi stepped forward and looked at her former subordinate and friend in disdain.

"However, Soi Fon. Let it be known that once this new war starts, and soul society needs our help, we _won't_ be there to give it to them. Yamamoto and his army have lost our support."

"Fool. We. Don't. Need. _Your._ Help." Soi Fon accentuated as she glared up at Yoruichi.

Yoruichi only grinned, "We'll see about that, won't we?"

She watched as Soi Fon let out a howl of anger and charged her. Soi Fon only made it half way across the room before she was knocked out cold.

From each spot in the room, captains and former captains exchanged worried glances as they took in the gravity of the situation. There was absolutely no backing out of it now. They had less than twenty-four hours to gather their belongings and leave Karakura for good. If they remained, they would most certainly die.

"Matsumoto and I will go with Inoue Orihime to retrieve her belongings and meet you back here by 6:30," Captain Hitsugaya said and motioned for the two to follow him.

As they exited, Byakuya turned towards Ishida, "Renji and I will follow you to your home and explain the situation to your father," Ishida nodded briefly and the three of them left together.

Tatsuki, still terrified by the incident with Soi Fon, requested that she be left in Karakura. While the others had been hesitant to allow her make such a decision, Yoruichi agreed, stating that most of soul society didn't even know about Tatsuki and that her reiatsu was so little that it would most likely be overlooked or not sensed at all. After Yoruichi's explanation, the others had reluctantly agreed and Yoruichi took Tatsuki back to her house.

Meanwhile, Tessai had begun to prepare a rather large meal while Urahara returned to his shop to pick up the belongings he would need most. As he returned, he demanded that everyone clear the area in the family room. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he placed a sapphire jewel near the light switch and then pressed it twice. A blue mist emitted from the jewel and spread out over the area. Everyone watched as the mist settled above the members of the second division and Soi Fon and then slowly began entering through their mouths and noses.

As the process finished, the jewel on the wall shattered and everything returned to normal. Yoruichi, who had returned seconds before, walked forward and examined the bodies for any changes. She could see no difference.

"Kisuke, what did you do?" She inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, that was a nemasu mist. It will put the members of the second division into a sleep-like state for the next three days. That should give us plenty of time to remove ourselves from Karakura town."

Yoruichi stared at Kisuke in awe. Although it shouldn't still surprise her that Kisuke came up with these things, it did. She shook her head slightly and walked towards the kitchen. She stopped as the door to the front of the house opened and Byakuya, Renji, and Ishida walked in. Each of them was holding two bags. Yoruichi raised her eyebrow and Byakuya only shook his head in disdain.

"He wanted to bring extra Quincy outfits," Byakuya replied before setting the bags down in the foyer.

Behind them, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, and Orihime shuffled in and shut the door behind them. Matsumoto was holding Orihime's two bags. She set them down next to Ishida's and sighed heavily.

"Ah, I'm just so tired! Who would have thought Orihime-chan would have such heavy bags!"

Hitsugaya glared at her before picking up the bags himself, to test her theory. Sure enough, Toshiro fell over backwards at the weight. Baffled, he stood up and stared at the red-head bewilderedly.

"Orihime! What do you have in there?"

Inoue laughed nervously and waved the group away, "Oh nothing! Nothing! Just some cook ware I had lying around the kitchen."

Everyone in the group gave her a blank stare before Tessai's shout of 'dinner is served' lead them all into the kitchen. The kitchen table had been merged with the dining table in order to fit the entire group. They would have to make more accommodations later in order for everyone to have a place to sleep. Urahara had commented that people _could _have taken the floor if the entire second division wasn't already spread out there, and Byakuya shot him a glare.

Later that night, everyone had managed to fall into an uneasy sleep. Rukia had slept in her normal spot in Ichigo's closet, while Orihime and Matsumoto shared Ichigo's bed. Hitsugaya had opted to sleep on an air mattress in the center of the room. The members of the eleventh division had taken up the living room couches and floor while Renji, Chad, Ishida, and Byakuya had taken the guest bedroom in the basement. Karin, Yuzu, Jinta, and Ururu were all asleep in Karin & Yuzu's room while Tessai had decided to sleep on another air mattress in Isshin's study.

Yoruichi and Kisuke were the only two members of the group still awake. They were currently sitting outside on the porch in silence. Both of them were reflecting on the current situation, and how, exactly, they were going to get out of it. Yoruichi sighed audibly before turning her head in Kisuke's direction.

"How did we get in this mess, Kisuke?"

Urahara placed a hand on Yoruichi's shoulder, "I don't know. But I hope that Kurosaki-kun and the others got my message. We might have to meet them sooner than we thought," he breathed.

Yoruichi shook her head, "I don't think it's a good idea to meet up with them, Kisuke. If we have too large of a group moving around the country together, it's bound to draw attention at some point. It's bad enough that there is a group of nine vizards living together somewhere. Our group can stay together for now, but eventually we may have to separate as well."

"I was hoping that didn't have to happen," Kisuke admitted sheepishly, "But I guess we have no choice."

Yoruichi looked at the sad expression on Kisuke's face and she removed herself from her chair. She walked towards him before settling herself in his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"As long as we have each other, it doesn't matter what happens."

Kisuke leaned in to kiss her gently, "As long as we have that, then I think you're right."

He smiled warmly and nuzzled her neck lightly, "I think we'll have to send Ichigo some more news."

* * *

Ichigo opened his eyes to see Hiyori and Shinji standing above him. With their help, he stood up from the training ground and dusted off his clothing. These little 'messages' that Urahara had been sending him lately – while helpful – were starting to get extremely annoying. He had already had several bruises and scrapes from landing in random spots to receive the messages, and his sleep schedule was severely cut in half.

"Geez, doesn't Kisuke think he's overdoing it a bit?" Shinji questioned while looking at the haggard appearance of the man in front of him.

"That's _my_ line," Ichigo said bitterly.

Hiyori looked at them both impatiently, "Well what did he say this time?"

"Apparently their group has plans to leave the country as well. They didn't disclose where, though. He said it wouldn't be possible to meet up with us," Ichigo paused and looked slightly saddened at the thought, "They're sticking together for now, but they might have to split up once they arrive in America."

"That's rough," Shinji said and then raised an eyebrow, "But oh wait, we're doing exactly the same thing."

Hiyori's expression became panicked, "What do you mean, Shinji?!?! The vizards _can't_ split up!"

Shinji's eyes widened and he waved his hands frantically, "No, Hiyori, I mean't that we're doing the same thing by moving all over the globe for our safety."

Hiyori calmed down at that statement and then smacked Shinji across the face with her water bottle, "Asshole! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Shinji yelped in pain while Ichigo ran his fingers through his hair, "He also said that he wouldn't be sending us messages for a while. At least not until something major comes up that he has to relay to us."

Ichigo turned on his heel slightly and both Shinji and Hiyori looked at him questioningly, "That being said, I'm taking a well-deserved nap."

* * *

Five hours later, Ichigo woke up to the smell of barbequed chicken. Hungrily, he pushed himself out of bed and set off to join the others at the dinner table. As he sat down, Mashiro beamed at him. Ichigo did a double take as he noticed the color of her hair. Instead of its usual mint-green, Mashiro was now sporting a light-brown 'do.

"Do you like my hair, Berry-tan? Ah! Wait until you see Hachi's!"

Ichigo whirled around in his chair as Hachi made his appearance into the room, on cue. The cotton candy pink of Hachi's hair had turned into a pale blonde color, similar to Kisuke's. Ichigo was somewhat surprised by the transformations. It would take a little while to get used to.

"So as I was _saying_,"Hiyori glared at Mashiro for interrupting her story, "Ichigo has learned how to fire a decent-sized cero. He still needs a lot of practice though."

"That's great Ichigo. You're making a lot of progress. Though, I think you should take off from training tomorrow. You look exhausted," Lisa commented.

There was a murmur of agreement from around the table, "Yeah, just take it easy tomorrow. We have plenty of time to hone your skills," Love stated as he shoved a fork full of chicken into his mouth.

Ichigo wasn't about to argue with the suggestion. He could definitely use a full day to catch up on sleep. Besides, Love was right. They had a _long_ time to work on Ichigo's skills. It wasn't like they had a war to help soul society fight. Yamamoto had lost their support about two weeks ago.

"At this point, even if Ukitake _does_ somehow wake up from his coma, I really doubt any of us would be willing to forgive Yamamoto's actions up to this point. When this is all over, soul society has a lot of ass-kissing to do," Kensei stated out of the blue.

No one commented on the randomness of the statement. Everyone was too busy focused on Kensei's last statement. _When this is all over_. Obviously Kensei was hoping for a positive outlook on the whole situation. Ichigo wasn't even sure if he was looking for that anymore.

Yamamoto had failed Ichigo too many times in the past to be forgiven now. He had forbade Ichigo from saving Orihime even though the girl had helped to rescue Rukia from her death sentence and had helped soul society discover the traitors. Ichigo had also taken countless blows for Yamamoto when Amagai had stolen the old man's power and was attempting to use it against him. He wasn't sure that a man like that deserved his support.

"Nice going, Kensei, you effectively killed the mood," Shinji joked from across the table.

Kensei grunted in response and stood from the table. He brought his dishes over to the dishwasher and Lisa followed suit. The rest of the vizards were sitting quietly around the table, some still reflecting on Kensei's statement.

"He's right though," Rose said quietly, "They've made this mistake once before. We never even really forgave them for that time."

"So it's unlikely that we can ever forgive them for this time," Hachi added in agreement.

"Of course we can't," Shinji chimed in as he stood from the table, "You can't forgive people who don't apologize."

"But what do we do about the souls not affiliated with soul society when this new threat decides to make its move?" Ichigo inquired, seriously.

Everyone grew completely quiet as they reflected on the statement. Shinji let a sigh escape his lips as he looked backwards at Ichigo, "Well decide what to do about that when the time comes."

"And if we're too late?" Ichigo asked, glaring somewhat coldly at Shinji.

"Then we're too late," Shinji retorted just as coldly.

Ichigo wondered briefly if this is what it really meant to be a vizard. He watched as mostly everyone went their respective ways. Soon it was just him and Hiyori, alone in the kitchen. Then Hiyori stood up and looked at Ichigo, seriousness suddenly gracing her features.

"He doesn't mean that, Ichigo. Shinji may make a lot of bold remarks, but in the end he always tries to do what's right."

Ichigo nodded in understanding, "And you?"

"I feel the same way he does. The same way that you feel too. As inclusive as this family may seem, none of us want to see innocent people get hurt. Sometimes I think that's the only thing that still makes us human."

Ichigo looked up at Hiyori's depressed expression with surprise. Is this how she really felt?

Hiyori suddenly looked away and her volume lowered to such a degree that Ichigo was forced to strain his ears to hear her, "Please don't tell anyone I said that."

"I won't," Ichigo replied and watched as Hiyori made her way upstairs to her bedroom, "I promise," he added to himself.

Because sometimes, he felt the same exact way.


	6. The Pharaoh

**Author's Note: **This chapter is going to focus heavily on the royal guard. They're pretty much going to jump on top of the current situation. Also I have to warn everyone – considering that the royal guard has not been elaborated on _yet_ by Kubo in the manga, I'm going to be making up some of my own facts about it. Don't worry, I'm not going to get ridiculous with these facts. However, the royal guard – in this fic – are going to be ridiculously strong. My idea of the royal guard is that it is compromised mostly of captains that have had a few hundred years of experience under their belts. I am also splitting up the royal guard into sub-divisions. Think of what the second division is like (with the discipline squad, etc) and you'll know what I mean. Basically the royal guard is going to be huge, and is going to be a huge problem for the rebels and the vizards. This chapter is really rather violent and gruesome, and destructive. I am giving you forewarning now.

Also, sorry kids, but no Rukia & co. today. I had to get some important plot elements out of the way in order to clarify a few things. I promise though, there will be plenty of Rukia-ness in the next chapter!

**kaiserkawaii: **Haha thank you! I want a RukiaXIchigo reunion too : - /. It's going to take a little while though.

**BioHazard82: **Thank you! Though I must confess that there may not be an update for at least two days. I have another stupid economics test coming up…bleh!

**Nekura Enzeru: **Thanks! Actually, I tried to set up the royal guard invasion in the last chapter through Soi Fon, but it was a short snippet, so it might have been easily over looked. Anyway, the royal guard (or the zero division) is going to enter in this chapter, and boy are _they_ a fierce group : - P.

**DancingBuffy: **Thanks! And we shall see. ; - )

**DarkJason: **Haha thanks! I know, I have been a bit oocish with the characterizations, but I kind of wanted to explore some emotions that we rarely get to see from the characters. I think it makes them a lot more complex.

**KH 777: **Ah she totally is! We never get to see a serious Hiyori or an emotional Hiyori, so I thought it would be nice to incorporate that.

**realityfling18: **Haha, yesss, so much _is_ happening. And even 'more' happens in this chapter! And thanks, I really love it when Shinji got all serious in the 'Pendulum' arc because it was a side we never really saw before. I definitely had to incorporate that in the fic as well.

**Slashvenom & rukia death kuchiki: **Thank you!

**prettygood: **Haha thanks! Glad you like it!

**Note: **If anyone needs clarification on the Japanese used in this chapter, let me know. Basically the most important is that Shinji is using 'dark bankai' instead of regular bankai.

* * *

**Chapter 6: **The Pharaoh

* * *

Kirio Hikifune entered the first division head quarters with all fifty members of her squad following behind her. It had been a long time since she had set foot in soul society. 110 years to be exact. She cringed slightly at how much things had changed. Apparently three captains and three vice-captains had recently instigated attacks on soul society and had freed a dangerous man from prison. Or that's the story she had received. Soul society conveniently left out the parts about the man being Isshin Kurosaki whose only crime was being the father of a wrongly-accused criminal. Also soul society's report to the zero division had stated that there had been twenty causalities in the attack. Receiving the information had prompted the king to send sector 6 – the execution sector – of the royal guard to soul society. So here they were. All 50 members of the execution sector now stood in the center of the first division head quarters. Yamamoto, Kyoraku, Mayuri and Soi Fon had all gathered to greet them.

Yamamoto was secretly pleased. He knew that the 50 members of the execution squad had all served as captains under him at one point or another. He also knew that they had 200+ years of experience on their hands. All in all, they were formidable opponents. The presence of their reiatsu alone had caused various members of different squads to be sent to the fourth division to receive treatment. Yamamoto stood and bowed deeply to the members of the zero squad.

"I welcome you back to soul society," Yamamoto stated politely, "I assume that you've heard of the situation?"

Hikifune stepped forward, as she was the captain of the execution squad, "Yes, we have. That being said we are willing to offer temporary substitutes to fill the currently empty positions in your squads."

"That would be greatly appreciated," Yamamoto replied and watched as Hikifune snapped her fingers slightly. Four former captains stepped forward from the crowd.

Yamamoto stood before each of them, "Ah. Reiko, you can take the thirteenth division under your wing for now."

The man in question nodded slightly before departing swiftly.

Yamamoto turned to the three remaining captains, "Areina, please take the sixth division. Jiru please take the tenth division. And Raian, you can have the eleventh."

The three captains departed, leaving the execution sector with only fourty-seven members.

"Obviously what happens from here on out is not up to me. What orders have you been given?" Yamamoto asked curiously.

"We are sending a group of thirty to the real world. Once they arrive those thirty will split into three groups of ten," she paused to let it sink in, "One group will head to the west coast in America. Another will head to the east coast in America. The final group will remain in Japan. We have all been trained well in being able to track and kill any and all targets."

Yamamoto smiled slightly at Hikifune's last statement. That was exactly what he had wanted to hear, "And the remaining seventeen?"

"Will remain here for security and defense purposes. However, if one of our groups finds the traitors we will dispatch the remaining seventeen to deal with the threat."

Yamamoto could barely contain his smile, "Good. Then everything will hopefully be at peace."

At his last statement, the groups that were headed to the real world, left. Hikifune looked at Yamamoto gravely before responding, "Not exactly." Yamamoto looked up at her in surprise.

"There is still a new threat growing. Don't think the royal guard has overlooked this. We've been doing our own research," Hikifune stated sharply.

"The threat in Hueco Mundo isn't something that is a pressing issue at the moment," Yamamoto stated just as sharply.

"The _threat_ is not originating in Hueco Mundo, captain-commander," Hikifune retorted. The four captains standing in front of Hikifune were suddenly alarmed.

"Kirio, if the threat isn't originating in Hueco Mundo, then where _is_ it originating?" Kyorau asked worriedly.

"Hell," Hikifune stated simply. There was an uproar at her statement. Soi Fon had started screaming about how it wasn't possible and Mayuri – for once – agreed with her. Kyoraku shook his head in disbelief before Yamamoto banged his cane on the ground.

"The threat in Hueco Mundo is only working for the threat in hell from what we've uncovered," Hikifune let out a sigh of distress, "This is something bigger than we had originally imagined. There are rumors that – soon – the celestial ancient order will become involved."

Three captains stared at Hikifune in confusion. Yamamoto, however, openly scoffed at the former twelfth division captain, "The celestial ancient order does not exist, Hikifune."

"You're wrong," Hikifune proclaimed quietly, "I've met their leader myself."

Yamamoto visibly paled at the thought, "It isn't possible! If the celestial ancient order were to exist then it would mean –,"

"That there are even bigger threats than soul society, the royal guard, or the King has ever seen. I'm aware. And there _are_ bigger threats," Hikifune folded her arms across her chest.

"Obviously the present problem we are dealing with involves the execution of traitors. We are content with dealing with those matters for now, however, you must also be aware that we may soon face a war that will end all of humanity." Kyoraku was alarmed by that statement. He had no idea what the celestial ancient order was, but if it had made Yama-jii pale, then it meant that they were all about to become involved in something a lot bigger than they had originally thought.

"Is the celestial ancient order evil?" Kyoraku inquired.

"Oh good heavens, no!" Hikifune practically shouted, "They are the highest order of good that we have in any dimension. They are the origination of heaven, and the creator of worlds. Where do you think shinigami go once they die?"

Kyoraku was startled. He hadn't realized that such an order was in existence. Although he knew that the battle for good couldn't have possibly ended at the King and the royal guard, he had never been aware of the order that lied beyond.

"You said 'they'. How many of them are there?" he asked politely.

"Thirteen. Which makes you wonder where we get our numbers from," Hikifune smiled warmly.

"And their leader? How powerful is he?" Soi Fon asked sharply. She had only just arrived back in soul society this morning. Captain Unohana had taken a break from tending to Ukitake in order to restore the entire second division back to their previous health.

"_She _is extremely powerful. She could probably wipe out the entire planet with a snap of her fingers. Which is why she usually doesn't make house calls. Unless the matter is _that_ urgent."

All four captains were completely speechless at the news. Not only were they finding out new information about the order beyond the royal guard, but they had also just discovered that there was a threat so severe that this particular order might just have to enter their dimension in order to stop it.

"Are they really going to come down here?"

"How old is their leader?"

Kyoraku and Mayuri asked simultaneously. Hikifune turned to Kyoraku first, "They probably won't come down here. At least not until they have more information. At best they'll send the leader of the Illuminati down to take care of the threat. If even that --,"

"Or they would send down some members of the Imperial Magi," one of the captains in the execution sector interrupted.

"Or that," Hikifune agreed. She then turned to Mayuri, "Sapphire should be turning 750 billion years old next month. Well, according to when she started counting, that is."

There was another small uproar as a barrage of questions were aimed at the ever-patient captain once more.

"Who are the Illuminati?"

"Who are the Imperial Magi?"

"Can I study her as my newest specimen?"

Hikifune turned towards Kyoraku, Soi Fon, and Mayuri, "The Illuminati are the gate keepers of heaven. They are the next highest defense after the Celestial Ancient Order. The Imperial Magi are the next highest defense after the Illuminati. And no, Mayuri, you cannot."

Yamamoto was turning different colors as he absorbed all of the information. He couldn't seem to process the fact that there were such powerful orders in existence. He thought he was only dealing with a couple of rogue captains, some vizards, and a slightly powerful threat in Hueco Mundo. Now it seemed that the issue was more pressing than he originally thought.

"Don't look so sickly, Yamamoto. It's a good thing that we have such powerful orders willing to intervene if things get rough. The only thing you should be focused on is the execution of these traitors and the threat in Hueco Mundo. The higher ups will take care of everything else."

"About the threat in Hueco Mundo. What do you know about it? They haven't even bothered to att--,"

Kyoraku was cut off as an explosion took out the entire left side of the first division. He could see absolutely nothing but dust and debris flying around. Covering his head with his hands Kyoraku tried to make out any figures in the dust. That's when another explosion hit the right side of the first division. Kyoraku was startled when a flying object hit him squarely in the chest. Said object landed in his lap. As some of the debris started to clear he looked down to see Mayuri's severed head in his lap. Gagging at the sight, Kyoraku quickly removed Mayuri's head from his lap and tossed it off to the side. Though the gesture might have seemed rude, he did not want to see the opened, blank eyes of his former comrade staring him in the face.

Suddenly, he heard Hikifune shouting at Soi Fon to get back. He watched as more of the dust settled and he could make out the shape of Hikifune attacking another shape. The other shape did not seem human, as far as he could tell. Kyoraku quickly covered his ears as the beast let out an ear-shattering screech. He watched as spikes protruded from its back and it flew onto a wall right next to him. Kyoraku quickly withdrew his zanpakuto and braced himself for an attack. A clawed hand came down on his zanpakuto and Kyoraku nearly toppled over under the overwhelming strength.

As he met the eyes of his opponent, Kyoraku gasped. Before him, Ichimaru Gin licked blood off of his fangs with a long black tongue. Although the face was definitely Gin's, it was obvious that his soul had undergone several transformations. Kyoraku had a sinking suspicion that the blood that Gin was currently licking off of his teeth was Mayuri's.

He watched in disgust as Gin swallowed the blood, before he moved his head closer to Kyoraku's. He sniffed the air slightly and smiled wickedly. Kyoraku leapt backwards and unleashed his shikai. There was no way he was fighting Gin without it. Swinging both swords at Gin's head, Kyoraku was surprised when he dodged both. He was even more surprised when both of his swords were suddenly lodged into a wall at the far end of the room.

Gin let out a roar of laughter that sounded as if a thousand demons had been lodged into the back of his throat, before he charged Kyoraku. Just as Gin was inches from sinking his teeth into Kyoraku's flesh, he stopped. Kyoraku watched as Gin's eyes widened in terror and he shoved his hands into his mouth, trying to wipe something off of his tongue. Kyoraku once again clamped his hands over his ears as Gin started to shriek in pain. Kyoraku watched in horrified fascination as a hole appeared in Gin's neck and rapidly started to spread. Soon, Gin's head had dislodged itself from his shoulders, and he fell backwards, obviously dead.

Kyoraku was startled as he noticed a blue substance starting to trail out of Gin's corpse. It formed a small puddle at Kyoraku's feet. He was about to bend down and take a closer look before someone stopped him.

"Don't. That's a highly toxic acidic poison. Your former twelfth division captain must have injected himself with it before he died. He saved us all," Hikifune stated from Kyoraku's right.

As he turned around, he assessed the damage to the first division. Everything was completely destroyed with the only exception being the center of the division. And that had only remained in tact because all seventeen members of the execution sector, Soi Fon, and Yamamoto had been standing in that area.

Yamamoto looked visibly shaken at the attack. He attempted to gather himself somewhat as he turned towards Soi Fon, "Soi Fon, please inform lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi that her captain has just passed away."

Soi Fon shot him a startled look before she hurriedly ran off towards the twelfth division head quarters. As she exited, Captains Unohana and Komamura arrived on the scene with the other substitute-captains arriving behind them. "Were any other divisions attacked?" Yamamoto asked Unohana.

"Just the first division," Unohana replied, concern masking her features.

"If you would like, I could cancel the search in the real world so that we can focus our efforts here," Hikifune suggested.

"No," Yamamoto said firmly, "That is still an issue that needs to be taken care of. Komamura-taichou, please inform the thirteen squads that Captain Kurotsuchi has been killed in combat. Also please inform the remaining lieutenants that a meeting will commence in the 8th division's headquarters in no more than fifteen minutes."

Komamura nodded at the command and flash-stepped out of the ruined division. Yamamoto turned away from the group and folded his arms behind his back. Somewhere inside he knew that Aizen had just been a test-run. He had always known that there would be a bigger threat to soul society than Aizen Sousuke. But what frightened Yamamoto above all else, even more so than the fact that his division had been ruined, was the reality that had just begun to settle in the back of his mind.

The attack had only been caused by what was supposed to be a menos-level hollow. If menos-level hollow were now evolving into humanoid form and having ridiculous amounts of reiatsu, then what were the espada-level hollows like now?

* * *

"Stand back, Ichigo, even _I_ only have this under about 90% control," Shinji stated darkly as a set of yellow eyes darted towards the red head behind his vizard mask.

Ichigo and the other vizards had formed a half circle around Shinji with their zanpakutos drawn. They had all taken a step backward at Shinji's words. Shinji pulled out his zanpakuto and held the tip directly above his heart. Ichigo was suddenly alarmed. What exactly was Shinji planning to do? Show Ichigo how to commit suicide?

"Kuroi Shi," Shinji whispered as he plunged his zapakuto through his heart. Ichigo sprang forwards, but was held back by Kensei and Love, who were intently watching Shinji. Ichigo watched in horrified fascination as black tendrils started to twist around Shinji's zanpakuto before plunging their way through the now-gaping hole in Shinji's chest. Shinji howled in pain, and Ichigo had started to claw at the arms that were trapping him.

A transformation had started to begin. Ichigo watched as Shinji's body jerked and suddenly his shirt was torn completely from his body. White and black bone had started to form over Shinji's shoulders, back, and chest, acting as armor. His vizard mask had also started to grow and it connected to the bone armor at the center of his back. Spikes of bone protruded from Shinji's shoulders and his hair grew and fell just below his waist.

There were also noticeable differences to Shinji's mask. It was like the mask had actually _become_ Shinji's face. It had stretched and melted over Shinji's human form. The teeth had elongated and turned into fangs, and Shinji's eyes burned a firey red instead of the usual golden glow that accompanied a vizard's mask. As the transformation completed, clawed, black finger nails grabbed at the zanpakuto that was imbedded in his chest and wrenched it free, leaving behind a black gaping hole.

The black tendrils had returned and were started to crawl their way around Shinji's zanpakuto. His zanpakuto cracked down the center and separated. Ichigo watched as the black tendrils swirled around the cracks and began melding metal together in the center. When it was completely done, Shinji's zanpakuto had three deadly looking black blades that all stemmed from the hilt of his zanpakuto.

None of this, however, was as impressive as the overwhelming reiatsu that was now emitting from Shinji. The vizards could barely stand on their own feet in the presence of the reiatsu. Suddenly Shinji clasped the zanpakuto in front of him and looked up at the sky before opening his mouth.

"Kurai," he stated before continuing, "Bankai." The sky above the group darkened as black clouds sailed over head and thunder rolled in the distance. Lightning shot forth from the sky and met Shinji's blade in a whirl-wind of light. The ground shook viciously and chunks of rocks sailed overhead as Shinji called forth this unknown power.

Suddenly a black pyramid rose from the ground and loomed ominously in the background. Light poured out of a crack in the door way of the pyramid before the door was blown off of its hinges completely. Ichigo was horrified as one by one, black skeletons began to march from the pyramid to stand behind Shinji. After they had all arrived from the pyramid, Ichigo was in shock. There had to have been at least three hundred skeletons behind Shinji. All of them were wearing a pharaoh's head piece and carrying deadly-looking spears.

"Hone Kinjito," Shinji said in a demonic voice as he looked around the group, "Bone Pyramid."

Ichigo was having a hard time watching the whole event. Although Shinji was still there, for the moment, he truly looked like a demonic pharaoh standing before his army of the undead. Ichigo was shaken by the entire scene. Mostly because he knew that he must have appeared the same way to Ishida and Orihime while he was battling Ulquiorra in that form. It was a truly terrifying sight. If all nine of them had unleashed this form at once, soul society didn't stand a chance.

"This is the true extent of our power, Ichigo," Shinji addressed him in the demonic voice again before adding, "That we know of, anyway."

"What do you mean, 'that you know of'?" Ichigo questioned wildly.

"This is the final stage that we've managed to control as vizards. We've never attempted anything outside of this. We don't even know if it's possible," Shinji responded and Ichigo cringed. It was like listening to the voices of a thousand corrupted souls trapped inside of Shinji's vocal cords.

"I think you're scaring him," Hiyori commented, but was visibly shaken herself.

"What do you mean? I thought I was pretty attractive," Shinji said and then grinned. Everyone cringed at the sight. Shinji's teeth looked like they could crush flesh, bones, and even steel if they wanted to. Shinji did his best imitation of a pout, but it ended up looking twisted and malicious.

"I think that's enough Shinji, hurry up and revert back," Kensei stated, looking at the other vizard pointedly.

"Fine. Geez, you guys are no fun at --," Shinji was cut off and he suddenly gasped. His eyes rotated around the group a few times and Ichigo could tell he was having an inner battle with his hollow.

"_All,_" if possible Shinji's voice was even colder and more malicious then before. Before anyone could even process what was going on, Love was sailing through the air before he crashed into the side of the pyramid. The vizards simultaneously put on their masks as they attempted to thwart Shinji's attacks. Kensei attempted to break past Shinji to get to Love, but Shinji had raised his zanpakuto. As he did, his skeleton army mirrored his images, before Shinji thrust his zanpakuto forward. With that, the army began marching forward, towards the remaining seven vizards.

"This is a _blast_!" Shinji cried in mirth as he swung his zanpakuto at Rose. Rose barely managed to block the attack before Shinji fired a black cero at his face. Rose hit the sand about five hundred feet away and rolled with the impact. He was bleeding from various areas and Hachi rushed over to heal him.

"We can't keep doing this," Kensei stated in alarm, "Either we break off his mask, or fight fire with fire. And we can't do the first unless we want nine vizards running around mindlessly slaughtering each other," he rolled out of the way of the oncoming blade and grabbed the front of Ichigo's shirt.

"Listen closely. I'm going to distract the bastard. I'll give you a clear opening but then you _have_ to break Shinji's mask. We only get one shot at this. Screw up and we're all dead," Kensei whispered ferociously at Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded and waited for Kensei to make his move. He was only praying now that he would be able to shatter Shinji's mask. He watched as the girls, Hachi, and now a semi-healed Rose attacked the skeleton army, while attempting to reach Love. Shinji was howling with unsuppressed laughter at the site and Ichigo thought he was going to vomit. The sound was enough to make him want to give up right then and there.

His eyes widened as he heard Kensei roar viciously at Shinji before he swung his zanpakuto in a downward arc at the blonde's head. Shinji blocked the attack with ease and begun to let loose a barrage of wild attacks at Kensei's chest. One of them had actually managed to hit Kensei and his back hit the rocky surface of the training room, hard. Ichigo watched as Shinji bent himself over Kensei, smiling maliciously. Shinji raised his zanpakuto and was about to deal the finishing blow before he stopped. Frowning, Shinji's mask started to crumble away where Ichigo's zanpakuto had cracked it. Within minutes, Shinji was lying face-up on the ground of the training room and blinking in confusion.

"What the hell happened?" he questioned looking around at the collapsed figures of his family.

A water bottle sailed through the air and hit Shinji directly in the face as Hiyori marched over and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "IDIOT! You almost killed _all_ of us! Kensei told you to transform right then and there, but NO, of _course_ you had to make one last smart ass comment."

Shinji cringed as Hiyori's voice reached new and unwanted volumes right next to his ear. He smiled weakly and apologized profusely, but Hiyori was having none of it. The rest of the vizards watched as she landed punch after punch onto Shinji's chest. Cursing him out the entire time.

As she went to punch him again, her hand was stopped. Hiyori looked up to see Ichigo grasping her hand firmly, "That's enough, Hiyori. Can't you see he's already beating himself up enough over it?"

Hiyori looked down at Shinji and was startled by the pain she saw in his eyes. And not pain from the attacks she had just landed on him. It was deeper than that. Standing up, Hiyori muttered a soft apology before bolting up the stairs of the training room. Ichigo helped Shinji off the ground and looked at him seriously.

"You have a lot better control on it than I did," he said somewhat encouragingly.

"For about the first twenty minutes, I always do," Shinji replied sullenly.

"Then there's the lesson. Keep using it for twenty minutes until your positive you can push your limit further," Ichigo replied, "Eventually your determination will win out over your hollow's."

Shinji looked at Ichigo oddly. For being so young, the guy certainly had a lot of insight to pass around. He shot a half-grin towards Ichigo and nodded. Shinji then turned to the rest of the group and rubbed the back of his head warily.

"Uh, sorry for almost killing you, guys."

Kensei shook his head slightly, "You're forgiven. Besides, it's all happened to us before. Most of us can't even make it past five minutes. You should be proud of yourself."

Shinji frowned at the word proud and Kensei shook his head again, "You know what I meant."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed and nodded. Ichigo looked around at the group once more, "How about tomorrow we limit it to kido and cero training?"

Lisa laughed at that, "Sounds good to me. Nothing _too_ strenuous."

Shinji also grinned before smacking Ichigo on the back, "Good thinking. Hey who wants to order pizza?"

There was a collective shout of 'me' as several of the group's stomachs roared in hunger and the vizards made their way inside the house. Shinji wasn't quite sure how to approach Hiyori. He knew she was feeling guilty, but it was times like these that he wasn't sure what to say to her.

"She'll come around," Ichigo said knowingly, "Karin can be the same way at times, and she always comes around."

Shinji certainly hoped so. Everything had gone well today for the most part. Well at least up until Shinji had tried to kill everyone. Although he guessed that was just in a day's work for the vizards. After all, most of their lives were spent around death. Why should today be any different?

Ichigo settled onto the couch and started to think about the day's events when suddenly, the world went black.

And then the world was on _fire._


	7. The Sight Unseen

**Author's Note: **So your reviews have been totally awesome, guys! Thanks so much for the positive/helpful feed back. It really makes me want to continue writing this fic, so it is muchly appreciated. You guys rock a bunch. Okay, I know there have been a few of you requesting some RukiaXIchigo fluff, and I will try and incorporate some into this chapter, but for the most part the fic is supposed to be legitimately angst-ridden, as awful as that sounds haha. I'm not saying that it won't include any relationship aspects, cause it definitely will, but right now I am focused on building plot points and putting them in their respective areas. There is still a _lot_ of gaps I have to fill, and a lot of plot that has to become unfolded before there can be a giant RukiaXIchigo reunion. I, too, would love to be able to write RukiaXIchigo fluff in every chapter, but the plot of the story doesn't really allow for too much fluff. Anyway, I think I legit just lost my train of thought. Expect a lot to happen in this chapter.

**Martyna: **thanks so much! I'm glad you think the story is exciting! : - )

**Anonymous: **Thank you so much for the kind review! Admittedly, I was a bit nervous to see how people would react to the introduction of my original characters, but since I don't plan on having these characters 'steal the show' so to speak, I think it's not too much of a prevalent issue. And thanks again about the characters. I wanted to show that some of them actually have sides to them that people don't see, but know are there. I mean it would be completely ridiculous if Hiyori was never depressed, Shinji was always a goof ball, and Toshiro never cried. Unfortunately, Soi Fon _does_ still have to be an asshole, but that's only because I needed her and Yamamoto to be the ultimate jerks in this fic.

**uzumakisunspydr: **haha yes, I love the invasion of the USA as well. And, yup, they totally _were_ bad in Karakura for a month. And things are only going to get progressively worse…

**Nekura Enzeru: **Haha thanks. Hell as the enemy _should_ be interesting. ; - P And I know, 750 billion was totally excessive, but sometimes I just can't help myself, haha. I actually cringed as I wrote it and then left it anyway. What does _that_ say about me?

**happygirl24, biohazard82, IchigoKurosakiSoutaichou, & T.A.R.D: **Thanks guys! I'll try and keep writing as best as I can. : - )

**DarkJason: **hahaha, you seem super upset about Mayuri's death. ; - P And yeah, Yamamoto is going to have a few scary realizations coming his way. And don't worry! Ichigo and the other vizards will definitely be able to do what Shinji can, just with their own techniques and what not. People sometimes complain about Ichigo being able to deify this and that and become stronger, but I totally love it. Any chance to boost Ichigo's hero-capabilities are an epic win for me, haha. So expect him to definitely shine throughout this story. And no don't laugh like that! Scary! ; - p

**MrsKurosaki x: **The vizards would totally kick soul society's ass in those forms, haha. I don't know about the royal guard though…; - P. I tried to incorporate a bit of RukiaXIchigo fluff in this chapter, but unfortunately the ending is once again super-angst ridden haha. Sorry!

Ukitake probably won't resurface for a couple more chapters. I need him to stay comatose long enough for the royal guard to make an impact, if you know what I mean.

Thanks! Glad you are liking the fic!

**TAKCH1**: Thank you! I love IchigoXRukia pairings too. : - ) The royal guard was definitely fun to explain, only because we all secretly know how bad ass they really are. And yeah, the whole 'hell' scenario is going to be extremely scary when the time comes.

**KH777:** Haha, well I tried to have Rukia and Ichigo 'somewhat' meet in this chapter, but they probably won't officially have their reunion for a little bit. I will try and update faster, but until after next week, I will have to divide my time between this fic and a little bitch I like to call microeconomics, haha.

**anon & shina937: **Thanks guys! Glad you're enjoying the fic!

* * *

**Chapter 7:**_ The Sight Unseen_

* * *

The world was on _fire._

Or at least, soul society was. The time, however, was not in the past or in the present. No, instead, soul society's future was to perish in an inferno. Somehow, Ichigo _knew_ that this was some sort of premonition he had been dragged into. Nothing in this place resembled his inner world, and his hollow wasn't here. Neither was Zangetsu. Looking around, Ichigo watched as a mouth of flames consumed another of soul society's walls. Whatever had caused this had been relentless.

"It is _your_ burden to bear," a voice said quietly from behind him.

Ichigo turned to see a woman standing before him. Her hair was pale blonde and straight, and ended just past her shoulders. This wasn't her most intriguing feature, however, because what immediately caught Ichigo's attention were the woman's eyes. They were a piercing sapphire blue and almost seemed to glow. While everything around them was in ruins, the woman was unmarred and dressed in a golden gown. She was seemingly unaffected by the situation, as her face remained passive.

"Who are you?" he questioned angrily.

"That's not important now. What is important is that _this_ future," she responded motioning to the ruins of soul society, "Is yours to prevent."

"I don't work for soul society anymore, sorry, you'll have to find someone else."

"There _is_ no one else. I have already given you the power necessary to deter these events," the beautiful woman replied serenely.

"Then take it back. I don't want it," Ichigo retorted harshly.

"Shinji said the same thing," the woman mused quietly.

"Shinji?! What?! I thought you said this was _my_ burden to bear," Ichigo asked bewilderedly.

"That was a test. I wanted to see how you would respond. All of the vizards seemed to respond the same way," she reflected on it for a moment before continuing, "I have already given you all power. I cannot undo those actions. You are free, however, to choose how you will use that power. I cannot force you to help soul society, I can only remind you that even fallen leaders step up and take the lead when no one else can."

Ichigo looked at the woman strangely. She seemed to understand that he didn't want anything to do with soul society, but she was also trying to persuade him to 'be the better man' so to speak. He wasn't sure if this was a situation in which he _wanted_ to be the better man. Not after everything Yamamoto had done to him already.

"This is why you should reflect on your decision. I know Yamamoto has done much to cause distress to you and your friends. And there is only more to come. He has delved too far into the realm of revenge for me to stop him now. What is coming your way will be extremely difficult to deal with," the woman interrupted and answered his thoughts.

_How did she do that? _Ichigo wondered, in awe, "What about this new power? Can't I stop the royal guard with not only my vizard power, but this new power?"

"No. Right now you will only have control of your vizard powers. And when I say control, I mean _complete_ control. Your final stage will no longer cause you problems. That is what this power can do for you now. What it will do in the future will be revealed to you in the future," she responded vaguely.

"Is everyone else seeing the same images?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"Yes…including Rukia," she said slowly and Ichigo's face lit up, "She requested to see you."

"Can she?" Ichigo inquired quickly.

"Yes, but only for a little while. I know that is important that you see her. I must go now, but please think about your decisions. They affect us _all_," she turned and started to walk away.

"Wait! Can't you at least tell me your name?" Ichigo shouted at the retreating back.

He watched as she turned around and smiled at him, "It's Sapphire. It was nice meeting you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

With that she was gone.

And in her place, was Rukia.

"Rukia," Ichigo murmured, a smile spreading over his features.

"Ichigo," she replied and walked towards him. As they met, Ichigo grabbed her into a fierce hug and buried his face into her hair. Rukia wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed deeply. She then pulled away and before Ichigo could recover, she slapped him across the face.

Startled, Ichigo rubbed his stinging cheek and glared at her wildly, "What the hell was _that_ for?!?!"

"For writing me that letter! Do you know that I actually cried over it? And then to make matters worse I couldn't even talk to you about it afterwards! How dare you write such a beautiful letter knowing that you were leaving!"

"But that's why I wrote it!" Ichigo retorted, sending her a scathing glare, "Because I was leaving! It's not like I could pop into soul society where I was being charged with attempted murder and tell you how I felt! Wait – did you actually cry over it?" he asked suddenly, looking amused.

"Shut up!" she said smacking him again before sighing, "I missed you."

Ichigo rubbed his sore cheek a second time, "I missed you too. And I'm sorry for making you cry," he added softly.

"I didn't cry _that_ much," she said in defense and then smiled at him, "Ichigo, what are we going to do? Now that you know that I love you --,"

"It's almost unbearable to be apart," Ichigo finished, "I know. I don't know what to do right now, Rukia. Everything is up in the air. Maybe we should just stick to making decisions for right now. Because I don't know about you, but I don't want to deal with _that_ future right now," he said motioning to the burning soul society behind them.

"Me neither," she replied, "But Ichigo – when do you think we will see each other again? I don't know how much longer I can keep going like this," she looked at the ground sadly.

"It's hurting me too, Rukia," Ichigo moved towards her and wrapped her into another hug before holding her at arm's length, "Maybe I can talk to Shinji and we can figure something out. Until then, we have to keep moving forward. As much as it sucks."

Rukia nodded at looked up at him again. She brought a hand up and cupped one of his cheeks before standing on her tippy toes to press a warm kiss against his lips. Ichigo grinned into the kiss before lowering his head, making it easier for her to kiss him. Rukia wrapped an arm around his neck and brought him down for another kiss. This one was rougher and more desperate than the last. Ichigo soon realized it was because Rukia was fading. Their time together was almost up.

Wrapping both arms around her waist, Ichigo kissed her back just as fiercely. This lasted for a few precious seconds before they broke apart, both slightly winded. Ichigo leant down to kiss the top of Rukia's forehead. He then kissed the tip of her nose, and finally he pressed his lips against her mouth for the final time.

"I love you, Rukia," he gave her a bittersweet smile as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you too, Ichigo," she smiled sadly as their interlocking fingers began to fade, "See you later."

"Goodbye, Rukia," and with that, they were both gone.

* * *

"Eh? Why do you think he's the only one still unconscious?" Shinji mused next to Hiyori as they both bent over prone figure of Ichigo.

"Considering he's been moaning Rukia for the past fifteen minutes, _idiot_, I'm going to say they had sex subconsciously," Hiyori announced and Shinji wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"We did not have sex," Ichigo muttered as he sat up and opened his eyes, "She wants to see me," he added looking over at Shinji hopefully.

"It's not possible right now. The royal guard was just sent out, Ichigo; we need to give it a bit of time before we make any drastic movements."

Ichigo sighed deeply at Shinji's response. Although he had assumed Shinji would say something like that, he had secretly hoped that there was some chance that he and Rukia could reunite soon.

"Can't we technically just take out the entire royal guard now? I mean we have complete control of our final stages now," Hiyori said hopefully.

"There's no way," Kensei said from the couch on the right, "The royal guard is made up of a shit load of powerful people. They might not have hollow powers on their side, but their reiatsu has practically aged to perfection."

"Just like this wine," Lisa giggled as she held up her glass from next to Kensei. The others looked at her in bewilderment. When had she gotten wine from the alcohol cabinet? Even more importantly, how had she gotten drunk in all of fifteen minutes?

"Lisa-chan is a light-weight," Hachi explained while pouring his own glass of wine. Well that explained where Lisa got it from and why she was drunk.

"How many glasses has she had?" Rose asked curiously.

"Three," Hachi replied and Lisa giggled loudly at the answer.

Mashiro started to giggle too, "I want wine too! Kensei! Pour me a glass!"

"Hell NO!" Kensei roared at his former lieutenant, "The last thing I need is you running around acting ten times more insane than you already are."

"Agreed," Shinji and Ichigo said from Kensei's left. Mashiro started to pout and whine about 'evil asshole-faced jerks' before Love shoved a pint of Ben & Jerry's 'everything but the' into her hands.

"Yay! Love-chan is my favooooooriteee!" Mashiro sang as she dug into her ice cream.

Hiyori growled lowly, "That's almost as bad as a drunk-Mashiro, Love."

"Would you have rather had her calling everyone names all night?" he retorted.

Hiyori crossed her arms over her chest and sighed in defeat. He had a point.

Suddenly Ichigo and Shinji were assaulted as Lisa wrapped her arms around both of their heads and squashed both of them to her chest, "And these two are muh favoriteeeeee, cause they gots lovely personalities," She slurred as she leapt over the couch and attempted to sit on both of them at once.

"I think Lisa-chan should slow down on the drinks and maybe get some sleep, yeah?" Shinji asked as he hauled Lisa off of both himself and Ichigo and threw her over his shoulder. As he headed upstairs towards her bedroom, shouts of 'Shinji if you're lucky I'll let you see my porno mag collection!' were heard from above.

Ichigo shook his head a few times and wondered how he had gotten stuck with such an insane group of people. Then he remembered what his dad was like only a daily basis, and he smiled. Maybe Isshin had hung out with the vizards too much before Ichigo was born and that's where he had gotten it from.

He sighed sadly and Hiyori raised an eyebrow at him, "What's wrong?"

"Eh, nothing. This just makes me miss my other family, is all," Ichigo replied.

"You'll see them again, Ichigo, don't worry. Besides, I'm sure they're having a lot of fun themselves right now."

* * *

"PUT THE DAMN RING BACK ON HER HAND NOW!" Isshin roared as a sudden flare of reiatsu filled the spacious apartment.

"I am trying, Isshin, please lower your tone," Byakuya replied as he finally managed to shove the reiatsu-blocking ring back onto Rukia's finger.

During their little episode with the flaming soul society, Rukia had been out the longest. In her unconscious state, she had started to reach out to someone. In the process, her ring had been flung from her hand, which had caused the recent crisis to escalate. If anyone had sensed that ten-second interval of Rukia's reiatsu leak, then they were all very much screwed.

Urahara suddenly appeared between the two men with a small velvet sack in the palm of his hand. Turning it upside down, they watched as several similar rings tumbled out. He placed the rings in Byakuya's hand, who immediately set about trying to find a smaller one for Rukia's finger.

"Ah that was a little _too_ close," Urahara laughed nervously and nudged the visibly upset Isshin, "If anything happens, we'll deal with it."

"If anything happens, we'll be _dead_," Isshin snapped and watched as Yuzu and Karin looked up at him, clearly upset. His expression softened and he placed his hands on his two girls' heads.

"Daddy won't let anything happen. Daddy will fight all the bad guys in a super sexy lovable dad fashion!" He pumped his fist into the air before reaching out to smother his daughters in a hug. Before he was able to, Karin punched him in the gut and he was sent flying across the room.

"Idiot, you're so embarrassing," Karin muttered as she walked off into the bathroom.

Several knocks were heard at the front door, and then the word 'sake-love' was muttered before Captain Hitsugaya swung the door open and walked into the apartment. Whoever had decided to let his lieutenant choose the password was seriously disturbed. Behind him, Matsumoto smiled warmly at everyone and entered into the apartment. Finally, Kenpachi, Madarame, Yumichika, and Yachiru entered and the entire group was together.

They had decided to rent out two apartments considering the number of people in their group. The eleventh division members and the tenth division members were sharing an apartment across the hall, while everyone else was sharing the apartment in which they were currently situated, because it was more spacious than the latter.

"We felt a flare of reiatsu," Hitsugaya stated and then looked down at the couch, where Rukia Kuchiki was just waking up and looking startled at the news.

"Nii-sama, was it me?" She asked nervously.

Byakuya nodded, "It was an uncontrollable event, but now it's over."

"There might be repercussions," Hitsugaya retorted and glanced over at Rukia apologetically, "Obviously it was an unavoidable mistake, but we have to prepare for any consequences that might occur."

Rukia nodded in understanding, "When do you think we'll know?"

Hitsugaya looked towards Yoruichi and Urahara for an answer. Although he knew about the royal guard, he had never before had a first hand experience with them.

"You'll know," Yoruichi stated softly, "Their reiatsu is hard to miss. Especially if my suspicions are right and it's the execution squad that is performing these duties. If you feel like you're being smothered, then you'll know that they're here."

"None-the-less," Byakuya commanded, "We will need to send out some groups to make sure they aren't in the area. They could be plotting a sneak-attack of some sort."

Yoruichi nodded in agreement, "You're right. Normally they are extremely bold when confronting their target. Even to the point where it seems that they're bragging," she added disapprovingly, "But since there are so many of us--,"

"They might want to focus more on getting the job done than being flashy," Urahara finished and Yoruichi nodded.

"Alright then Captains Kuchiki, Kenpachi and I can take the first sweep of the area. We should be back in no more than an hour," Captain Hitsugaya stated.

Kenpachi grinned, looking thrilled at the idea of hacking up some members of the royal guard, "Sounds like a good plan to me. Let's get going!"

Byakuya nodded and looked back at Rukia, "Please be safe."

Rukia was started by the deep emotion she saw in Byakuya's eyes. She nodded fragilely and watched as the trio walked out the door.

Renji sighed deeply and sat next to her, "Don't look so worried. Even if they _do_ come across the royal guard, I'm certain that they'll be able to figure out a way to escape and come back to us."

Rukia nodded in agreement, "Well unless Kenpachi decides he would rather fight them than escape," the others shared a laugh at that.

Although they knew that Kenpachi _would_ normally do something like that, they weren't worried in this instance. Yoruichi had previously given them a long run-down on the royal guard (because once upon a time she had almost accepted a position into the zero squad) and Kenpachi was well-informed of the danger that this group possessed. He wasn't about to mess with them.

Rukia couldn't help but feel rather elated, despite the fact that she may have put them all in danger. Seeing Ichigo again – albeit in a dream-like state – had given her the strength she needed to get through the next few weeks. Rukia turned to Renji and studied his expression. Her best friend seemed extremely calm, despite the events that had unfolded recently. She vaguely wondered if it was because of the 'new powers' they had all been told of. She knew, however, that those powers weren't going to be activated until later. Basically, the entire group was still screwed until this 'later' came about.

"Renji, how do you feel about all of this?" Rukia inquired from his side and watched as he lifted his head in surprise.

"I don't really know, to be honest. Part of me _thinks_ I should be terrified, but so much has happened too quickly. It's hard to even process the right emotions as of now," he replied honestly.

"That's probably a good thing," Yoruichi commented. Although she hadn't intended to overhear their conversation, it was nearly impossible not to considering the limited privacy they had with their current lifestyles, "It's better to fight with only some fear."

"Speaking of," Matsumoto said slowly, "It's already been an hour and taichou isn't back yet."

"We'll wait another fifteen minutes. If they aren't back by then, Matsumoto, Renji, Rukia, Madarame, Yumichikia, and I will go out and look for them," Yoruichi stated calmly.

The rest of the group prayed that the trio would return in fifteen minutes.

* * *

Byakuya Kuchiki moved through the crowd of shoppers at a rapid pace. Los Angeles was certainly full of people 24/7. Byakuya didn't understand how so much activity could occur in one place. It did, however, provide for good coverage when attempting to see without being seen. His hair was currently flat and matted to the back of his head due to the sweltering heat. He had been forced to take out his kenseikan when both Renji _and_ Rukia had informed him it would stand out. _Traitors._

The only other person who had been forced to change their hair style was Kenpachi. The man's usual spikes had been tamed somewhat and his hair hung down to tie into a pony tail at the base of his neck. Renji had mentioned something about Yachiru changing her hair as well and Kenpachi had practically killed Renji with his glare. It was one thing to ask Kenpachi to change his look, but another thing entirely to make Yachiru change hers. Before any fights could break out, they had all agreed that Yachiru could keep her bubblegum-pink hair.

From his left, Captain Hitsugaya was busy snarling at the passing crowd instead of looking out for the royal guard. Several people had already made comments about how cute the little boy that was with them was. It had led to Captain Hitsugaya beginning to silently seethe over the events. Byakuya was pretty certain that the small captain would take out the entire block if the comments continued. He wished that Captain Hitsugaya would direct his anger elsewhere. Like attempting to find the royal guard and taking them down instead.

On his right, Kenpachi was receiving a multitude of stares as well for the several scars that adorned his face. Not to mention the eye patch that made him look like an overly vicious pirate. Kenpachi, instead of angry, just looked amused by the events. He was even more amused at the fact that Captain Hitsugaya was getting pissed off so easily.

Turning another corner, the trio suddenly stopped as their breath was abruptly taken from them. The reiatsu that had just flared up was overwhelming. Byakuya was the first to recover. As he brought his head up his was met with the cold gaze of a tall, brunette man in front of him. As Byakuya took a soul candy out of his pocket, four other zero division members suddenly appeared behind the first. It was officially five against three.

As the three rebel captains popped the soul candy into their mouths, they commanded their artificial souls to return to 'base' and inform the others as to what was going on. As their gigais were leaving, all three rebel captains quietly murmured a single word before an activation switch went off in the gigais and they suddenly turned invisible. Urahara had installed that function specifically so that they wouldn't be followed in an instance such as this.

Byakuya removed the reiatsu-suppressing ring and placed it into one of his pockets. He watched as the other captains did the same. With five zero division members already knowing who they were, it didn't really matter if their reiatsu was flaring all over the place. As he unsheathed his zanpakuto, he watched as the leader of the group stepped forward.

"Gentlemen, how about we take this somewhere less crowded?" he inquired, almost _too_ politely for someone that was about to act as the trio's executioner.

"I agree," Kenpachi answered with a broad grin, "We don't want any of your body parts hitting some poor civilians."

Byakuya had to admire Kenpachi's relentless passion for war. Even though it was likely that they would not return from this unscathed, if alive at all, Kenpachi was still entering the soon to be battle with an air of victory already hanging over his head. Byakuya watched as Captain Hitsugaya merely nodded at the leader's request, before flash-stepping away. Byakuya quickly followed the tenth division captain, and could tell that Kenpachi was also right behind him. Along with the five zero division members.

As they moved onto a wide, but fairly empty park, all members of each party unsheathed their zanpakutos and prepared for battle.

"I'll take those three brats in the back, you two handle the ones up front," Kenpachi announced as he swiftly moved off to attack the trio in the back of the group. As the four of them were separated from the fight in a flurry of steel and well-aimed kidou attacks, Byakuya turned back towards the leader of the group.

"And I shall take you as my opponent," Byakuya proclaimed before the two of them also moved off in a flurry of violent movements.

Captain Hitsugaya was left with a small turquoise-haired woman who looked to be only about three inches taller than him. He briefly scowled, wondering if Kuchiki and Kenpachi had done this on purpose to mock him. None-the-less, Hitsugaya followed suit and prepared to strike the turquoise-haired zero division member. Just as he was about to attack, he was caught in surprise as pain suddenly erupted from his stomach. Looking down, he saw a wide gash spread out across his stomach. Blood was flowing freely from the wound.

Toshiro met the cold eyes of his opponent and was suddenly more cautious than before. There was no avoiding it. If an attack such as that had already thrown him off his guard, he knew he wouldn't get anywhere unless he went all out.

"Bankai," Hitsugaya stated coldly. Wings of ice protruded from his back and an 8-point star appeared on Hitsugaya's hilt.

"Daiguren, Hyorinmaru," Hitsugaya announced as he studied the reaction of the woman in front of him. She seemed greatly surprised at the sight of his bankai.

"So it's true then," she said and smiled slightly, "Captain Hitsugaya really _does_ possess the strongest ice-based zanpakuto in soul society. It's just a shame that you have to die. We could really use someone like you in the zero division," turquoise-haired woman stated somberly.

"I do not plan on being the one who ends up dying here," Hitsugaya retorted scathingly.

The turquoise-haired woman chuckled at that, "Don't bother making such threats, Captain Hitsugaya, even if you _do_ miraculously manage to defeat all five of us, there are still five others in the area."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened in alarm at that. _Five others in the area?_ How the hell were any of them supposed to survive that? As much as he hated to admit it to himself, this woman was right. Even if, somehow, they managed to defeat these five captains, they would be in no condition to fight five others. And they only really had three captains left at the base, and one of them hadn't used his bankai in years. He really doubted that even if Isshin was able to produce his bankai, he could use it at full-power.

There were two others that had managed to obtain bankai, but Renji's was no where near at full-power and Madarame refused to use his in most instances. Although Hitsugaya did not like the prospect of dying here and now, he knew that this might be the last battle that he would ever fight.

"Tell me your name," Hitsugaya requested, raising his zanpakuto, "I at least deserve to know the name of the first victim of Hyorinmaru today."

The turquoise-haired woman smiled slightly at that. It was almost cute that her opponent was still trying to act as if he had the upper hand, "My name is Keiko Amuro. It was nice meeting you, Captain Hitsugaya. I think I shall make your death swift, so as to honor your pride."

Captain Hitsugaya snorted at that, "Spare me any favors, Amuro, all I want is for you to fight at full power."

"Well if that's the case," Keiko said smiling all the while, "Bankai."

Hitsugaya watched in alarm as Keiko's zanpakuto scattered into what appeared to be thousands of rattle snakes. He watched as the snakes climbed up the back of Keiko's shinigami robes and settled into her hair. They then started to grow and stretch and were seemingly attached to Keiko's head. They were squirming about wildly and Hitsugaya watched as one of them – a different shade of green than the rest – broke off from the group and slithered down to wrap itself around Keiko's arm. It continued to grow and expand and Hitsugaya watched in disgust as the snake opened its mouth and engulfed Keiko's arm.

The snake on her arm had stopped moving and started to harden into what could only be described as razor-sharp scales. The snake's fangs had protruded several feet from its mouth before dividing and expanding into four deadly-looking bone-blades. All in all, it had looked like Keiko had now developed a wicked-looking claw on her right hand. The transformation, however, was not over. Hitsugaya watched as the eyes of the snakes in Keiko's hair started to glow red before dulling to a soft brown. As Toshiro wondered what that had been about, his silent question was answered as he noted that Keiko's eyes were now similar to a snake's.

All in all, she looked like a very _twisted_ version of medusa.

"If you were thinking, medusa, you are correct," Keiko said in a somewhat raspy voice, "Well. Correct in the sense that I can and _will_ turn you into stone, Captain Hitsugaya."

"Hebi Shi," Keiko said simply, "Attack."

Hitsugaya watched as Keiko made a slashing gesture at the air in front of her and four neon-green beams sailed towards Hitsugaya. Before he had enough time to react, four bloody gashes were left down the entire right side of his face, just missing his eyes by inches. Gasping at the sudden pain, Hitsugaya bent over and clutched his face. He peered out of the corner of his eye to see Keiko smiling wickedly and he let a small smile grace his features as well before he quickly flash stepped in front of her and sent an explosion of ice at her un-clawed arm.

He watched as she let out a shriek of pain before her eyes glowed red. Snarling viciously, she attempted to make eye contact with him, but Hitsugaya quickly averted his gaze. He couldn't afford to be turned into stone _this_ early in the battle.

"Wise decision, Captain Hitsugaya, but you won't be able to avoid it for long. I can keep this technique running the entire battle if I have to."

Captain Hitsugaya silently cursed his luck and looked over to see how the others were fairing. It appeared that Captain Kuchiki was using his bankai against the rather bizarre-looking bankai of his opponent. His opponent's bankai appeared to be a swarm of maggots that kept disappearing and reappearing on Byakuya's skin, whenever he let his guard down. Toshiro watched as Byakuya quickly removed the maggots using Sebonzakura. He was horrified to see that the maggots had eaten a small hole through Byakuya's left arm. What, exactly, were these people made of?

Toshiro looked towards the other side of his own opponent to see that Kenpachi had apparently made the correct choice in choosing the other three as his opponents. The first man that was attacking Kenpachi was holding a bankai that appeared to be a giant butcher's cleaver. Hitsugaya could tell that it didn't hold a particularly large amount of Kidou-based attack. The second of Kenpachi's opponents was using a bankai that had turned his entire arm into that of a machine gun, however, instead of bullets; the gun was firing out throwing knives at Kenpachi's face. The last of Kenpachi's opponents was using a bankai that was essentially a long metal pole with wicked-looking spikes on top.

Before Hitsugaya had any time to reflect on the fact that Kenpachi was oozing blood from almost every inch of his skin, Keiko was suddenly in his face and his eyes snapped shut almost automatically. Keiko only chuckled at the sight, and Toshiro was unprepared for the deep cuts that had assaulted his chest. Wheezing in pain, Hitsugaya was suddenly alarmed at the burning heat that he could feel near his eyes.

"Did I forget to mention? Your eyes don't have to be open for me to turn you into stone. As long as they're meeting mine, closed or not, you're done."

Hitsugaya's feet suddenly started to feel extremely heavy. Realizing what was happening; Hitsugaya threw himself to the ground and rolled unceremoniously out of the way of Keiko's onslaught. He quickly peered at his feet and noted that, visibly, they weren't any different. He couldn't move them, however, and that's what alarmed him the most.

"You know there is _one_ way to break the spell," Keiko informed him and Hitsugaya could tell she was smirking, "But that would require you to rip out your eyes."

Hitsugaya visibly blanched at the thought and instead swung his zanpakuto around and swiftly aimed an attack at Keiko's feet, without looking. Obviously the woman had issues with speed, because he heard a dull thud and a screech as she fell to the ground.

"If I have to fight with my feet immobile, it's only fair that you should have to as well," Hitsugaya stated and heard an angry snarl sent his way.

"Well then, Captain Hitsugaya, I'm sorry to inform you that my feet –in fact—aren't immobilized," she stated and to prove her point she kicked him in the face.

Hitsugaya went spiraling out of control before he landed, face-up, and unfortunately staring into the eyes of his opponent. He felt his left arm go numb as, it too, was turned to stone. He shut his eyes and rolled over again and thrust his zanpakuto upwards, where ice shards exploded into the flesh above him. He felt droplets of blood fall onto his back and heard a hiss of pain before he was grabbed roughly by the front of his shirt.

Hitsugaya was unable to escape as his face was brought up to his opponent's. He could feel the rest of his legs going numb and soon his entire waist was numb as well. Hitsugaya knew that if he didn't act fast enough, there would be no hope left for him. Panicked, he felt the beginnings of his right arm going numb and he act swiftly and somewhat irrationally.

Bringing up his right hand, Hitsugaya placed it before his own eyes, "Shakkaho," he announced before flames consumed his eyes, and his sight was lost.

Screaming in pain, Toshiro kicked out at his opponent, now that his feet were once again mobile and he held his damaged eyes, all the while sobbing at the steady flow of pain that consumed his face. Toshiro moved forward in the surrounding darkness and sought out the reiatsu of his opponent. Ignoring the pain for the moment, he knew he had a job to finish.

He knew that this would be his final attack. If he failed, then he would die for certain. Raising his zanpakuto, Hitsugaya pointed it towards the sky, "Hyoten Hyakkaso," he announced and the surrounding area noticeably dropped in temperature.

"What's going on? What are these flowers?" his opponent demanded and Hitsugaya gave a brief sigh of relief as he realized it had worked.

"Once the last of those petals falls, your life will be over," he announced and a shriek of anguish met his ears.

"That's impossible! Imposs--," her statement was cut off and a body suddenly hit the ground.

Hitsugaya turned his head at the sound of a second body hitting the ground and his name being called. He realized it was Byakuya.

"Is she dead?" he inquired.

"Yes," Byakuya replied and glanced at his own opponent. He had finally managed to kill the brunette, but at great costs of his own. The flesh of his left arm had almost been completely eaten away and Byakuya had made a make-shift tourniquet out of the sleeves of his shirt in the hopes of at least salvaging his arm somewhat. He watched as Kenpachi brought down his first foe. However, the monster still had two others to deal with.

Byakuya made his way over to Captain Hitsugaya and looked at the burnt flesh that covered his eyes in worry. It was most likely that Captain Hitsugaya would never see again. Well unless Unohana decided to step over enemy lines and heal his eyes for him. Byakuya doubted that that would happen. Placing a hand on Captain Hitsugaya's shoulder, he watched as the younger man shrugged it off and a choked sob escaped his lips.

"It's over, Byakuya. I don't want to think about it anymore," he stated and turned away.

Byakuya nodded to himself. If he had lost his own eye sight he probably would have done the same thing. Byakuya had overheard Keiko explaining her bankai and knew almost instantly that Hitsugaya was going to be in for the battle of his life. He had hoped that Captain Hitsugaya wouldn't have had to resort to burning out his own eyes, but it had happened.

Byakuya's attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere as he heard someone shout out his name. Yoruichi appeared in his line of vision and made her way over to himself and Hitsugaya.

"Pull Kenpachi away, we don't have time for this bullshit. We have to move at once," Yoruichi stated, worry eating away at her. She was even more worried as she finally took note of Captain Hitsugaya's eyes and Byakuya's left arm.

"Shit, we have to go," she said and Byakuya waved her off, "We cannot simply leave Kenpachi here to die."

"Which is why I'm saying that you have to pull him away, damn it!" Yoruichi snapped.

"How would you like me to do that? Interfere in the battle and get my head cleaved off?" he stated just as harshly.

Yoruichi looked at him sadly, "That's not what I meant Byakuya. It's just…I have to use my flash-teleportation technique, only on _all _of us. It's the only way. But I have to use it now or the others will come."

Byakuya nodded in understanding and he watched as Kisuke and Matsumoto stepped into his line of vision. Matsumoto took one look at her captain and a screeching wail escaped her mouth. She suddenly flew at Hitsugaya and wrapped him into her arms.

"Oh Taichou, I'm so sorry! I should have gone with you!"

"Why? So I could watch you die?" Hitsugaya snapped and then felt guilty as Matsumoto pulled away, still sobbing softly.

"Matsumoto, don't worry about it. This is no one's fault but my own. We do what we have to, to save our own lives."

Suddenly, everyone's attention turned to Kenpachi who had just let out an alarming roar. The roar, however, was not because of what everyone immediately suspected. They had all thought that Kenpachi had been seriously injured. And although he _was_, the roar had been because Kisuke had managed to stop Kenpachi from fighting and he was _pissed_. Grumbling at the shop keeper, Kenpachi reluctantly flash-stepped away from the battle and the entire group moved swiftly to where the others were waiting.

Yoruichi screamed at everyone to link hands, and they all looked back in terror to see the two zero squad members rushing towards them. Snapping her eyes closed, Yoruichi used all of reiatsu to consume the entire group at once. As the two zero division members finally reached them, the entire group was gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Damn, that was an INTENSE chapter for me to write. I'm somewhat emotionally drained as well. Did it make anyone else sob out loud when Toshiro had to burn out his own eyes? Okay, sorry, I know that is my own evil bitchyness fault, but hey, Keiko had a fucking _awesome_ bankai. At least Hitsugaya still managed to own in the end.


	8. The Big Bang Theory

Author's Note: Wow, I realize this update is a long time coming and I apologize. I was finishing up my microeconomics course and during the last week there were literally three tests (a make-up one; a regular test, and the final exam) and then I started two more online courses a week later. Anyway, in light of some recent events I have a lot of plot twisting to do in order to keep things fresh. It was my intention to write this story for the enjoyment of others and myself. I now see that I'll have to do an overhaul on ideas to keep this story different. Also in response to people's concerns about Orihime healing Hitsugaya's eyes – it's not going to happen for a while. Healing Hitsugaya = leaking reiatsu and the current group of shinigami/humans won't be willing to do that so soon after the battle they just encountered. I'm not saying there's no hope for Hitsugaya's sight! Cause there definitely is! Just not now. Anyway, that being said….enjoy the next chapter!

Also – just as a side note – I did NOT check this chapter for any spelling errors, so I apologize profusely if there are any errors in names, general grammatical errors, etc.

* * *

**Chapter 8: **_The Big Bang Theory_

* * *

"You realize moping around won't save them, right?" Shinji questioned as he watched Ichigo pace the room with a scowl on his face for the hundredth time.

"Then what will?" Ichigo shot back. After he had been 'informed' by Urahara that the Royal Guard had landed an attack on three captains, he had been worried sick. It didn't help that there was no way he could do anything about his injured friends.

"They have to save themselves. And they will," Shinji said a bit _too_ optimistically, "That group is a lot more capable than you give them credit for."

"Toshiro got his vision burned out, Byakuya pretty much lost his left arm, and don't even get me started on Kenpachi," Ichigo's glare was now burning holes through Shinji's skull, "I think their capabilities are dwindling a bit."

"When they think it's safe again, Orihime can heal them," Shinji replied a bit uncertainly.

"It will _never_ be safe again," Ichigo snapped and looked away. Shinji didn't have to see his face to know that the pained expression lied there.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Ichigo. We all feel the same way. It's not just you in this, you know. We all chose to be here."

Ichigo turned around slowly and nodded. Although he still couldn't help but feel like the whole situation was his fault, he knew that all of his friends and family had chosen to help him. They could have easily avoided execution by helping out Yamamoto in his quest for revenge, but they hadn't. And the vizards, his new family, could have completely left him to fend for himself. But they hadn't either.

"How long has it been?" Ichigo asked quietly.

"Since we left? About a month," Shinji replied and then smiled grimly, "My birthday's next week."

"Really? How old will you be?" Ichigo asked curiously and Shinji shot him a bewildered look.

"Let's not go there," Shinji said seriously, "Let's just say I'm old."

"You'll _have_ to go there considering Lisa somehow managed to land a VIP spot at some club downtown for that night," Kensei interrupted as he entered through the front door with the morning's newspaper.

"Excuse me?" Shinji's eyes widened and then narrowed, "How the hell did she manage to do that?"

"I had sex with the club owner," Lisa said nonchalantly as she waved a hand through the air while reading one of her porn magazines.

"EXCUSE ME!?!" Shinji shouted even more bewilderedly. Hiyori had choked on her water at the remark, Mashiro was giggling, and Love actually took off his signature glasses to stare in astonishment at Lisa.

"It was a joke, guys, get over it," she stated looking up from her magazine, "I can't believe you would fall for that. I met the guy during my daily dog-walking routine," Lisa replied.

Ichigo sighed heavily. They had bought a golden retriever because while Kensei, Shinji, and Mashiro were out she had seen one in the window of an pet shop and had caused an outrageous scene on the streets of New York until they were forced to buy it to both A) shut her up and B) attempt to protect themselves if the Royal Guard had heard the disturbance.

Naturally, the minute the animal had gotten home, Mashiro refused to take care of it so the task was left to Lisa, who had taken a liking to the dog. Lisa had named the dog Queen because at times it could be just as stubborn as Mashiro, who frequently acted like a queen.

"The guy you've been walking the dog with is a bar owner?" Shinji asked, being the first to recover.

"Yes, a very successful one. Anyway, I figured celebrating your birthday would take some stress off after the current events."

Shinji looked at Lisa and sighed, "Well if we're going to do it, then we'll have to be careful."

"Should we really be partying right now?" Ichigo asked in an irritated manner.

"Why not? What is there that you can do, Ichigo?" Kensei asked as he sat himself next to Shinji and opened the newspaper.

"Berry-tan, calm down. We'll take care of things here, and they can take care of things wherever they are," Mashiro stated as she dug into a pint of Ben & Jerry's.

Kensei shot her an irritated glare from over the newspaper, "Right. _You'll_ take care of things, just like you're taking care of that dog."

A spoon suddenly attacked Kensei's head, and Ichigo and Shinji both had to restrain him from viciously attacking the small girl.

"Anyway, I can't help but agree with Ichigo, _slightly_," Shinji added with a pointed look, "As much as I love the idea of celebrating my way-too-old age, it really isn't a good time," everyone started to protest Shinji's words but he held up a hand, "But I am aware that we all need some outlet to release our tension. That being said, we can have this celebration, but we need to be extremely cautious. And when I say extremely, I mean we have to map out a plan detailing an hour by hour analysis of how things will proceed."

"Not a problem," Lisa said nodding, "Besides Hiyori and Mashiro are going to be here anyway, they can take base-control."

Shinji nodded in agreement and Hiyori let out a frustrated shriek, "What do you MEAN Mashiro and I are going to be here?"

"Be serious, Hiyori, you and Mashiro don't even come _close_ to looking 18, let alone 21. None of these bars will let you in, VIP connections or not," Love stated and watched as Hiyori glared around the room, waiting for someone to crack a smile or make any sudden gesture so that she had an excuse to beat the shit out of them.

"It's not fair! We want to party too!" Mashiro whined and flew across the room. She landed in front of Shinji's lap and she began pounding her fists on his knees in a childish manner.

"Alright, Alright, geez. We can have a small party here too," Shinji grunted as he removed Mashiro's bruising fists from his knees and watched as she perked up and suddenly bolted upstairs to her room. Hiyori only crossed her arms over her chest, still looking extremely pissed off, before she followed Mashiro up the staircase.

"So how about it Ichigo? Would you agree to letting off some steam at least?" Shinji inquired as he glanced at the younger man out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, alright. As long as we're doing what you suggested and mapping everything out extensively. I want to make sure we'll be able to contact the others if we need to."

Shinji nodded and a full grin lit up his face, "Will do."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Matsumoto, but we can't heal his vision right now. It's far too risky. I already leaked a small bit of reiatsu getting us here," Yoruichi stated for literally the tenth time since they arrived at their new home in Houston, Texas. During their short stay in California, they had rented several homes across the country for the summer so that they could hop from house to house if need be. Kisuke was already online making arrangements to get their money back from their apartments in California.

"I'm sorry, Rangiku-san," Orihime said sadly as she glanced over at Toshiro Hitsugaya for the hundredth time, "Sorry, Hitsugaya-taichou."

"It's fine," Hitsugaya grunted, "Matsumoto, stop making a big deal out of it. Nothing will be fixed by whining. We need to focus on our next course of action," he added.

Toshiro stood, and immediately dropped back onto the couch at the bout of dizziness that suddenly overwhelmed him. Along with losing his sight, he had almost forgotten that he had lost a great deal of blood from other wounds on his body as well.

"Taichou, please don't strain yourself," Matsumoto said sadly and placed a hand on her captain's shoulder. He shrugged her hand off and stood from the couch again before walking out of the house and stumbling onto the back porch. His hands groped around the porch until he came across a wooden chair with a soft cushion attached to it. He sat himself on the chair and folded his arms across his chest before letting out a heavy sigh.

He heard the door creak open somewhere to his right and he furrowed his eye brows in frustration, "Matsumoto, I said I was –,"

"It's not Matsumoto," Karin Kurosaki stated as she took the seat next to the tiny captain, "It's Karin. I just wanted to know how you were feeling."

"I'm fine. These wounds shouldn't take too long to heal. That seems to be everyone's favorite question lately," Toshiro responded and moved his head away from her.

"That's not what I meant, Toshiro. I want to know how you're _feeling_. I don't need a status report. You just burned out your own vision, that has to come with a psychological impact," Karin stated knowledgeably and with little regards as to how her words might affect him.

Hitsugaya gasped in mild shock at her words, as the reality of them sunk in. Although he knew what had happened and was more than aware that he had ruined his own vision, hearing it from someone else was extremely startling.

Defenseless, Hitsugaya let a rush of pained words escape his lips, "I feel empty. I feel like I crawled into the darkness and cannot hope to find light again."

Karin also let out a gasp, mostly in shock that Toshiro had actually admitted his true feelings. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his arm, and was even more surprised when he didn't pull away.

"You can't keep pushing people away, Toshiro. If you do, you'll guarantee an absence of light in your future," She paused and watched as a frown appeared across his face, "Matsumoto is only worried about you. Sometimes you have to let others take care of you. Especially when it's hard to take care of yourself."

Hitsugaya moved his head in the direction of Karin and mulled over her words. Maybe if he shared his burdens, they wouldn't weigh so heavily on his soul. Hitsugaya moved his right hand over Karin's, which was still resting on his arm.

He flashed her a small smile, "Thanks, Karin. That was exactly what I needed to hear."

Taken aback, Karin gasped again and then also smiled, "No problem. That's what friends are for. Anyway, Toshiro, I'm going to go back into the house and help Tessai and Yuzu with dinner."

She stood up and was suddenly stopped by Toshiro's hand on her arm, "Would you mind asking Matsumoto to come out here on your way in?"

"Of course not," Karin replied and walked back inside the house, "Hey, Rangiku! Your captain wants to talk to you," before Karin even finished her statement, Matsumoto was thanking her and rushing out to the porch.

* * *

"Nii-sama," Rukia breathed as she and Renji uncovered Byakuya's arm in order to treat it.

Basically, from where Byakuya's wrist ended and all the way to his elbow, there was no skin covering his arm. What was even more startling was that Rukia could clearly see holes in the bone, where the maggots had been able to eat away parts of it.

Renji had to turn his head to keep from vomiting all over the carpet. Not only was the sight disturbing, but the stench of rotted flesh was almost too much. Not to mention, a large chunk of flesh had fallen off Byakuya's arm as Rukia further peeled the bandage back.

"There are only two people who could heal a wound like this. Unfortunately one is the enemy, and the other could alert our enemies to our presence if she tried," Byakuya stated in a monotone voice.

"Taichou, what will you do about fighting?" Renji asked nervously.

"I can certainly fight with my other arm, Abarai," Byakuya stated almost icily, "I have the least serious injury out of the three of us."

"And that is an extremely scary thought," Rukia stated as she and Renji worked as a team to treat and redress Byakuya's various wounds.

Renji looked towards the opposite couch, where Kenpachi was currently sprawled out. The previously white couch was now a dark shade of maroon. Yoruichi, Kisuke, Isshin, Madarame, Yumichika, and Orihime were all working endlessly to clean Kenpachi's various wounds, all of which were critical.

There were a few times where Yachiru would scream at Isshin as he announced that Kenpachi's heart had stopped beating for a few seconds. Eventually, it took ten bags of candy and a kid's show on tv in the next room, to occupy her so that she wouldn't disturb the make-shift medical team as they attempted to save her beloved Ken-chan.

"How can they be this powerful?" Ishida questioned as he returned to the family room with a fresh pitcher of water and rags, which were promptly taken from him by Isshin.

"The royal guard – especially the execution sector – is comprised of captains that have been captains for hundreds of years. They've had a lot of time to train themselves to become masters at not only basic sword-fighting techniques, but of their bankais and reiatsu as well," Yoruichi stated as she dropped four blood-soaked rags into the trash can at her side.

"The king wouldn't have chosen them if he didn't think they couldn't kill everything and anything in order to protect him," Yoruichi frowned and went back to cleaning the wounds on Kenpachi's chest.

"But three of them were defeated. That has to stand for something, right?" Chad asked as he brought in various medications and dumped them into Isshin's waiting hands.

"Not exactly. We got extremely lucky in our battles," Kenpachi muttered as he slowly came to consciousness.

"Taichou!" Madarame and Yumichika stated simultaneously as their captain attempted to sit up with their help.

"What do you mean?" Chad questioned and watched as Kenpachi popped a few painkillers that Isshin had dumped into his hands.

"I mean," Kenpachi grinned slightly, "That if I had been fighting Kuchiki's or Hitsugaya's kidou-based opponents, I probably would have been down and out a while back."

"Only' reason I'm still here is because I got lucky with a few meat-clever types of opponents," Kenpachi stated seriously, "And even then look at me now."

Chad nodded in understanding. It _would_ seem that Kenpachi had gotten lucky. He knew the older man sucked at kidou. But the others?

"Sebonzakura is extremely effective in the eradication of bankais that can break up into smaller substances. In this case, maggots," Byakuya answered Chad's silent question.

"And Captain Hitsugaya?" Rukia asked.

"Not luck. More like dire strategizing," Hitsugaya replied as he and Matsumoto reentered the room.

"But at least you're still alive, Taichou," Matsumoto said in relief. She was feeling infinitely better now that she and her captain had talked. He had apologized to her for his behavior and had thanked her for offering her support. He had also successfully reassured her things would be alright.

"At least I'm still alive," he agreed and with Matsumoto's help, sat down next to Byakuya on the couch opposite of Kenpachi.

"So what's for dinner?" Kenpachi grunted and knocked several people out of the way as he stood up, "I'm starving."

Everyone stared at him in amazement before Yoruichi and Isshin simultaneously shouted for him to sit back down so that they could finish treating him.

"Nah, that's enough for today, a good rest later will take care of things. Now, like I said, what's for dinner?"

"Dinner is ready. We will be having lots of American dishes," Tessai stated from the doorway. Kenpachi grinned at him and suddenly Tessai became Kenpachi's new best friend as he followed the slightly shorter man into the dining room.

* * *

"Excellent," the commander of the Gotei 13 stated as he read the execution sector's report from the real world. According to said report, three of his former captains were severely injured. Although none of them had received the ultimate punishment of death, this would certainly make the renegade group aware of just exactly what they were dealing with.

"Excellent for whom, might I inquire?" Hikifune said sharply from his right, "Three of my soldiers have died."

"Which is a terrible loss. I am truly sorry, however, your soldiers' sacrifices have made quite the advancement in our own motives," Yamamoto stated almost _too _gleefully.

"Which are?" Hikifune asked with the same venom lacing her words.

"Well it obviously settles a deep rooted fear within their group," Yamamoto snapped, "If they were injured this badly, they may surrender soon."

"I doubt it," Hikifune interjected, "The willpower of these people is stronger than you think. Besides, I doubt they would surrender just for a cleaner death."

Yamamoto grumbled a string of curses at Hikifune before Soi Fon burst through the doors to his office, "And just who gave you permission to enter unannounced, Captain Soi Fon?"

"Me, myself, and my fists," Soi Fon replied icily. Both Hikifune and Yamamoto looked at Soi Fon in surprise at her bitter remarks.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yamamoto demanded.

"You tell me," Soi Fon countered while holding up the bloodied shinigami robes of her former lieutenant.

"Omaeda paid the consequences of betraying soul society. That is all. Surely you would agree with this," Yamamoto stated smugly.

"No, I would _not_. No one is betraying soul society. It is clear that you have some personal vendetta you are seeking to unleash, though on who is not exactly as clear. It is extremely unnecessary to kill off people left and right, _especially_ for making proclamations. You and I both know that Omaeda was too much of a lazy fat ass to actually act on his spoken intentions."

"Enough," Yamamoto shouted over Soi Fon's angry rant, "What is done is done. My agenda is only to protect soul society from threats both outside and inside. If you have an issue with it, go cry to someone else. I do not have time for childish rants," Yamamoto finished and banged his cane on the ground.

"You and that damn cane can rot in hell for all I care," Soi Fon spat bitterly and stomped out of the office.

Yamamoto let a twisted smile grace his features at her last comment, but it went unnoticed by Hikifune. Instead the leader of the execution sector turned towards him and sighed.

"Is all of this really necessary Yamamoto? It seems things are being taken a bit too far."

"How far would you go to protect that which is most important to you?" Yamamoto countered and Hikifune was immediately at a loss for words.

* * *

The 8th division captain and his lieutenant were enjoying some tea in their office when the door was forcefully swung open and just as forcefully slammed shut and locked. Captain Soi Fon of the second division stood before them, resting against the door frame and looking worse for the wear. Bruises covered her face and arms and she had a bloodied lip and several visible gashes across her stomach. This was extremely startling considering only an hour earlier Shunsui had greeted a very healthy-looking Soi Fon outside of her own division.

"Ah, Captain Soi Fon, what happened?" Shusui inquired and was taken aback when Soi Fon's piercing gaze met his and revealed deep pools of pain, that were unnatural for her.

"Yamamoto had my lieutenant killed. _Killed_," She emphasized as her voice cracked. Letting out a strangled sob, she collapsed against the doorway. Nanao moved towards her, but she held up a hand to stop her.

"I'm sorry, Soi Fon, I guess, well I didn't know you were so close. More importantly, however, is why would Yama-jii issue such an order?" Shunsui asked quietly in bewilderment.

"We weren't that close. At all. You know that I like to keep my distance from my squad. Still, somehow I feel an overwhelming sense of loss," Soi Fon responded quietly while reflecting on the various times that Omaeda would gush endlessly to her about his loving family.

"Yamamoto is crazy. He's not to be trusted anymore," Soi Fon suddenly stated darkly.

"Captain Soi Fon, you shouldn't say such things!" Nanao said in a horrified manner.

When Shunsui didn't say anything, however, Nanao turned on him, "Taichou, you can't possibly agree with her!"

"I have my doubts, Nanao-chan. Besides, how else do you think Captain Soi Fon received all those wounds?" Shunsui retorted.  
"I….I don't know," Nanao responded defeatedly. Her captain had a point.

"But there _is_ hope Nanao-chan. I've sensed some changes in Yama-jii's reiatsu in the past few months. I don't think it's him making these decisions, I think it's something _inside_ of him."

Both Soi Fon and Nanao looked up at Shunsui in surprise, "What do you mean?" Soi Fon questioned sharply.

"I think something, or someone has taken control of him. I had my suspicions before, but these events definitely confirmed it."

"Then what do we do?" Nanao asked, almost in hysterics.

"We wake Ukitake up, grab Unohana-chan and regroup with the others back on earth. If we're too close to Yamamoto, we can't work efficiently on whatever is possessing him. Especially considering his reiatsu has more than doubled since previous times. It's likely that he could take us all out in an instant."

Nanao's eyes widened in surprise, "And just how exactly do you plan on waking Ukitake up?"

"Ah, Nanao-chan, you would pick that out of all the information I gave you. Well, the way I see it, Yamamoto's reiatsu has been poisoning Ukitake. If you've noticed, Yama-jii has been visiting Ukitake at least once a day if not twice. While it might appear like Yama-jii is grieving over Ukitake's comatose state, that's not the case. In reality, his heavy reiatsu has been keeping Ukitake in a comatose state. Whatever is possessing Yama-jii needs Ukitake's injury as an excuse to wreck havoc from within and outside of soul society."

Nanao stood with her jaw hanging open, "Taichou! If you knew all of this why did you wait until now to mention it? It could have saved us a lot of time!"

"Well you see, Nanao-chan, it's because I just figured it out now!" Shunsui grinned broadly and was smacked upside the head by both Nanao and Soi Fon.

"So then, how do we get the Captain Commander away from Ukitake for a day?" Soi Fon asked, crossing her arms over her chest sternly.

"Easy. I'm going to fight him."

An uproar was caused between the two women at Shunsui's comment. Shouts of 'You'll die' and 'There's no way you could defeat that asshole' were thrown his way.

Shunsui simply smiled, "Look, I will just do it as a distraction until you can inform Unohana-taichou of the situation and attempt to revive Ukitake. Then you'll all meet me at the Kuchiki manor and we'll use that senkai gate to escape to the real world. With Unohana-taichou with us, we'll be able to finish healing Ukitake and the others once we find all of them."

"That sounds like a smart plan and all, but you're forgetting that the Kuchiki's senkai gate has been blocked off," Soi Fon responded.

"Only by guards. We remove them from the equation and Unohana-taichou and I can use our kidou to break through the spells binding the senkai gate from the real world."

Nanao looked at her captain worriedly, "When will we initiate these plans, Taichou?"

"Now. The sooner, the better. I expect to meet the both of you at the Kuchiki manor in no more than an hour. That being said, let's get going," and before anyone could protest Kyoraku had disappeared from his own office in the blink of an eye. Following suit, Soi Fon nodded at Nanao and the both of them were off towards the 4th division.

* * *

Unohana was receiving startling reports every so often about Yamamato initating orders to kill ranked officers. She was starting to get worried because her own lieutenant had expressed that she did not think the entire incident was Ichigo's fault. If anyone other than herself had overheard Isane, then Unohana's lieutenant would be next on Yamamoto's hit list. Shaking these somber thoughts out of her head, she walked back into Ukitake's room to check up on him. She thought for sure he would have been out of his coma by now, but he was still unconscious.

Looking at the clock, Unohana did a double take. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. Yamamoto usually came at precisely 3:15 to visit Ukitake. She vaguely wondered what was keeping him. It was making her nervous.

"Isane?" she called out loudly. A crash of a medical cart was heard, followed by hurried footsteps as her lieutenant rushed into view.

"Unohana-taichou, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Isane, I just wanted some company," she smiled and then added lowly, "And to make sure you were still alive," but Isane was too thrilled about her captain's request that she didn't hear the second part.

Both women were suddenly interrupted in their thoughts as they heard several more crashes and a shout of, "Fuck off!" echo down the hallway. Unohana was about to investigate when someone flash-stepped into the room. Before her, captain Soi Fon was standing with her arms crossed and a dark scowl covering her features.

"Soi Fon, taichou!" Isane shouted in surprise, "What was that all about?"

"There's a warrant out for my arrest, but what else is new?" Soi Fon stated and turned her head slightly as Ise Nanao appeared behind her.

"It's hard to keep up when you leave such messes," she muttered darkly from behind the shorter woman.

Soi Fon raised an annoyed hand and motioned as if to wave her comments away, "There's no time. We need to revive Ukitake and leave, otherwise we'll get caught in a cross fire that will definitely kill us all."

Unohana's eyes widened in surprise, "Are you referring to Captain Commander? Do you really think he would go to such lengths?"

"I absolutely do," Soi Fon replied and then bent over Ukitake's bed, "The only reason he isn't here right now suffocating Ukitake is because Kyoraku is distracting him. But I'll explain all of that later, right now we need to resuscitate Ukitake."

"It isn't possible!" Isane shouted at Soi Fon but Unohana held up a hand to silence her.

"It actually might be possible, Isane. I think Yamamato's reiatsu was keeping Ukitake's unconscious before, we just didn't notice it. Probably because he has figured out a way to use it in a harmful manner but without it being recognized."

While she was giving this explanation, Unohana had moved over Ukitake's bed and had placed her hands over his prone figure. This was mostly due to Soi Fon's impatient glare. All four women watched as a soft glow emitted from Unohana's hands and traveled over Ukitake's body. Several coughs were heard around the room, followed by surprised gasps, and then Ukitake's eyes snapped open.

"Unohana-chan!" Ukitake proclaimed and then looked around the room at the almost all surprised faces. Soi Fon, however, still had an impatient look on her face.

"What's going on?" he questioned.

"We don't have time for this," Soi Fon said impatiently, "Ukitake, just to clear matters up. Was Kurosaki, Ichigo the one that gave you these injuries?"

Ukitake's eyes widened in surprise, "What? Not at all! Kurosaki-kun was trying to protect me if anything. There was an espada-level…"

"That's all I need to hear," Soi Fon stated and cut him off abruptly. She then started to pull various IVs out of Ukitake's arms, much at the protest of Unohana and Ukitake himself.

"Please slow down, Soi Fon! You could end up injuring him further!" Unohana stated in an authoritative manner.

"There's no time, Unohana. There is a very good chance that Kyoraku could die if we don't hurry."

Ukitake's eyes widened again and Soi Fon held up a hand, "Later," she stated again and waited as Unohana took out the last of Ukitake's IVs. Not even waiting until he sat up, Soi Fon tossed the frail, older man over her shoulder and commanded the others in the room to follow, even though they were all protesting at the sight of one of the elder captains being thrown over Soi Fon's shoulder.

Soi Fon flash-stepped out of the fourth division and Nanao was just about to follow suit when Unohana's voice interrupted her, "Wait, Ise, where are we going?"

"Ah, right, sorry taichou. We'll be heading for the Kuchiki's manor. Please follow me!" With that, Nanao flash-stepped out, the other two women following closely behind.

* * *

Kyoraku grunted in pain as he was slammed against the concrete wall of the first division. The attack had only been Yama-jii exposing his full reiatsu as well. Yamamato stood before him with a twisted smile on his face, nothing like the Yama-jii that Shunsui had once known.

"You really think you can defeat me, Shunsui?" Yamamato stated darkly, "While I admire your courage, you are a fool."

"Am I? I'm not the one issuing orders to kill everyone within soul society," Shunsui retorted angrily.

"These are all necessary processes, Shunsui. Surely you could understand. In order to build a strong soul society, we must weed out the weak. That is precisely what I plan to do now," he stated and pointed his cane forward.

Before Kyoraku could even react, he felt his shoulder dislocate abruptly. Letting out a grunt of pain, he smiled lightly, "Yama-jii, this really isn't like you."

"As if there's any point in hiding it anymore," Yamamoto answered his silent question, "This isn't your world anymore. The world you knew, is over."

"It hasn't been our world in many months. I suppose you initiated the attack on Ukitake as well?" Kyoraku raised an eyebrow.

"That was nothing. The harder part was getting everyone to turn on each other. You shinigami have stronger loyalties to that boy than I originally thought."

"He's done a lot for us, and I'm sure he will again," Kyoraku retorted.

"Don't be so certain. As far as he sees it, you've still betrayed him." Yamamoto smiled again and raised his cane.

"What's going on here?" A voice interrupted.

Kyoraku and Yamamato turned their heads to see Hikifune enter the first division with a confused expression on her face.

"Yamamoto? Explain yourself. There's no reason that there should be fifteen orders sent out for the arrest of ranked officers. And now, to find you attacking someone you once considered your son? What is this?"

Yamamoto turned towards her and sighed, "Well Hikifune, it would appear that you finally figured something out for once. Unfortunately for you, you are a bit too late."

With that, all three of them were suddenly thrown from their feet as an explosion, followed by an earth quake, shook soul society's foundation.

"A bit earlier than I expected," Yamamoto said in a semi-annoyed manner, "Well, I guess it is finally time."

Hikifune and Kyoraku both rose to their feet as well and turned towards him, "Time for what?" they asked simultaneously.

Yamamoto let out an abrupt laugh, "Time for hell to reign over soul society."

With that, a violet burst of energy shot forth from his cane and sailed towards Kyoraku. Kyoraku braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Looking down, he was horrified to see a gaping hole in Hikifune's tiny frame that stretched from her collar bone down to her hips.

"Get. Out. Of. Here." She gasped before she collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Kyoraku flash-stepped towards the exit, but Yamamoto was quicker with his new found power. Blocking his exit, Yamamoto made to raise his cane again when the group of the royal guard stationed in soul society suddenly burst through the door and grabbed a hold of Yamamoto.

"Shunsui, please leave now!" One of them shouted, and Kyoraku watched as a smirk lit up Yamamoto's face. Kyoraku flash-stepped out of the division as fast as he could, and almost missed the horrified screams of the royal guard being slaughtered. _Almost._

_

* * *

  
_

"Kurosaki, Ichigo," a monotone voice said as a figure stepped out of the shadows.

A week had passed since the discussion of Shinji's birthday, and now it was actually the night of Shinji's birthday. The vizards had followed their cautious plans meticulously, however, that had not stopped someone from grabbing the youngest vizard and flash-stepping away. Ichigo wasn't certain how it had actually happened, but he knew Shinji was probably in an uproar. However, that wasn't the pressing issue at hand.

The pressing issue was that the reincarnation of Ulquiorra Schiffer had just stepped into his line of vision. Gasping in surprise, Ichigo pulled out his zanpakuto, however, Ulquiorra held up a hand.

"I am not here to fight. I am not an Espada anymore, nor do I have any association with the plot to overthrow soul society," he stated quietly.

"What? Who is overthrowing soul society?" Ichigo asked in confusion, but did not lower his zanpakuto.

"You were not informed?" at Ichigo's annoyed glare, he continued, "The leader of the Shinigami has been possessed by a thousand-year-old demon. That demon is attempting to house demons even far more dangerous than itself in soul society so that they have better access in order to destroy this world. So far the demon is succeeding in his plot."

"What?!?!" Ichigo shouted again, "Yamamato's possessed? What the hell is going on?"

"Exactly that. Hell is what's going on. Demons from hell with use soul society as their headquarters in order to destroy this planet."

"How do you know all of this? And what are you even doing here?" Ichigo asked the man before him, while noticing that some of his trade-mark features were now gone. Ulquiorra's eyes were normal, and no longer had the tear-stained tattoos down his cheeks. His skin was not nearly as pale as it had been, and his hair had grown a little longer since Ichigo had last seen him.

"According to the leader of the Imperial Magi, they saw potential in me and decided that I could become a member of their order, in order to prove that I could contribute something to this war, and redeem myself. Also, they sent me to help you because they thought if you knew someone familiar…"

"So they send an ex-enemy of mine?" Ichigo interrupted in a loud and angry manner.

"Ah, there you are Ichigo, thank God you make a shit load of noise. Otherwise we would have never found ya," Shinji announced as he, Kensei, and Hiyori all arrived behind him.

"Who is this?" Hiyori demanded as she gestured towards the pale man in front of Ichigo.

"Apparently I am an ex-enemy," Ulquiorra said with a small smirk and Ichigo scowled.

"Don't get all high and mighty just because I said that. If you so much swing a fist in any of our direction, we _will_ kill you," Ichigo stated coldly.

"Understood," Ulqiorra replied with a small smile and Ichigo shuddered. He was so used to the monotone, didn't-know-what-a-smile-was-to-save-his-life Ulqiorra. This would have to take some time to get used to.

"So I guess he'll have to come with us," Shinji stated slowly.

"We don't have any room. Besides, he's our enemy." Hiyori said blankly.

"Ex-enemy," Ulquiorra reminded her and Hiyori growled.

"If we leave him out here, Hiyori, then he'll just call for back up and we'll all die," Shinji retorted. Ulquiorra was about to interrupt him and state that the royal guard was no longer his enemy when the angry voice of Hiyori broke through once more.

"FINE! I don't give a flying shit! Take him hostage and let's get the hell out of here!" With that, she stomped off in the direction of the nearest cab.

"Geez, some birthday," Shinji muttered and walked off after her.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and sighed. As he and Ulquiorra followed them, only one thought passed through his mind.

_How the hell did I get myself involved in this?_


End file.
